MOTHER'S DAY

 

Mother’s Day

Big brother Stuart, mom, and wee me, Ontario 1957.

My old professor would often quote the old adage, ‘Always love your mother because you will never get another.’ But why should I love my mother? The short answer is because God says I should. But how should I show this love? Well, I could buy her a card and some flowers once a year for Mother’s Day! Or, as well as that, I could treat her with respect every single day of the year. ‘Every one of you shall revere his mother and his father.’ Leviticus 19:3a. This really is just the 5^th Commandment, ‘Honour your father and your mother…’ Exodus 20:12. Ordinarily, a mother’s bonding love is the first love we experience. So why not set a whole day aside specially to honour her?

Where did the idea of a Mother’s Day come from? Mother’s Day as we know it in its commercialised form is generally attributed to an American woman by the name of Anna Jarvis who held a memorial for her mother Ann Reeves Jarvis in 1908. From there it developed nationally, then, along with Mother’s Day cards, internationally.

Some churches observe something called Mothering Sunday. It falls on the fourth Sunday of Lent, three weeks before Easter Sunday. The idea is that you attend your mother church or local parish on that day. Generally, this has been morphing into Mother’s Day by another name. Paul speaks of the mother church above, saying, ‘But the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all.’ Galatians 4:26.

Just before He went to the Jerusalem above, even as He was dying on the cross, Jesus honoured His mother: ‘Now there stood by the cross His mother… When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold your son!” Then He said to the disciple, “Behold your mother!” From that hour that disciple took her to his own home.’ John 19:25-27.

The great societal benefit of honouring your mother is often missed, even among Christians. ‘Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honour your father and mother,” which is the first commandment with promise: “that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.”’ One church document puts it thus: ‘[This] is an express promise of long life and prosperity, as far as it shall serve God’s glory and their own good…’

It extends far beyond simply honouring one’s parents. It’s about showing respect to one’s superiors, inferiors and equals in all our dealings. From police officer to waiter, from teacher to student, from politician to reporter, from husband to wife, from prince to pauper, from plumber to bricklayer all are to be given the honour and respect they are due in their respective positions and roles in society regardless of your position. This is the picture of a prosperous society, and it all begins in the home, by you as a growing child honouring your mother (and your father).

Disrespect for parents translates into disrespect in society. Of course, there are some mothers (and fathers) who may disrespect their children which also results in disharmony in the wider community. Again, if all, whether parents or children, or butchers, bakers, or candlestick makers, would simply honour each other there would be a lot less violence and murder in society. Therefore, ‘Always love your mother because you will never get another.’ And don’t forget the card and the flowers for her on Mother’s Day.