MOTHERS: THE HEART OF THE FAMILY

Nations rise and fall, empires prosper or crumble and men are stirred to great accomplishments or driven to shameful failure often because of the influence of a wife or mother. The wise poet has properly said, "The hand that rocks the cradle, is the hand that rules the world."

For most women, motherhood is a great privilege, a crowning joy and a sublime fulfillment. Perhaps the greatest privilege of motherhood is that of sharing and giving. No one shares and gives as a mother does. She shares her body with another in order to conceive. She shares it again with her unborn child. Then she shares her time, energy and talent with it after it is born in order to meet its needs and cause it to grow and develop. But most of all, she shares her heart and her love as she weeps, laughs, sorrows and rejoices with her child through the months and years of infancy, adolescence and youth and adulthood.

Motherhood, while being a great privilege, also involves obligation. No task on earth requires more dedication, greater skill or fuller commitment. Her responsibilities demand devotion to the highest ideals and patient perseverance over long years of time. Her task is formidable because there is no human obligation that is less adaptable to substitution than motherhood. You can substitute for the teacher, policeman, governor and almost anyone else but no one has found an adequate substitute for a mothers love.

The greatest writers and speakers of the ages have tried to capture the fullness of motherhood but all have failed to maximize it. Only in Scripture do we see the blessedness of a good mother fully described. "Her children rise up and call her blessed; Her husband also, and he praises her: 'Many daughters have done well, But you excel them all.' Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, But a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised" (Prov. 31:28-31).

Happy and blessed is the home and the children of a loving mother -one devoted to her husband, children and the Lord. Let us thank God if our home is so blessed.

Written by: Gene Taylor