MOTHERS: GOD’S SECOND GREATEST GIFT: Mothers Day 2012
God’s second
greatest gift: If I were to ask you
today, what is God’s second greatest gift, what would your answer be? Might it be the air we live on, or the water
we drink? Might it be the food we eat,
or the clothes we wear? Might it be the
car you are driving? Wow, hold on here
and let me tell you what I think God’s greatest gift is … but first, let’s look
at His greatest gift.
God’s
greatest gift, in this writer’s opinion, was, is, and always will be,
Jesus. Yes, Jesus, and all He did for us comes in first place, for “God
so loved the world that He gave us His son that whoever believes in Him should
have everlasting Life.”
John 3:16
from my memory. So what then would be
God’s second greatest gift, and again this is my opinion …
God’s second
greatest gift is MOTHERS. Think about
it, and maybe the only ones who will not agree with me are mothers who more
than likely will say that God’s second greatest gift would be their children
(except when they are teens). Just
kidding, kids!
I just need
to talk to you about a lady who just loved me with all her heart. She was Sarah Margaret Kimmel Lehman, and she
was my mamma. I guess my memory of her
goes back to when I was in elementary school.
I remember how hard my mamma worked.
You see, pop and mom were both school teachers, and pop taught out of
town, so mom sort of raised my brother and me by herself, as all week dad stayed
out of town, coming home only on weekends.
At the time, mom taught at a daycare and would leave for work as I would
leave for school. I had about a mile to
walk one way and we did that four times a day, for we came home for lunch. However, my mamma worked, so each week she
would stop at a small store near the school and ask the owner to look out for
me. She would pay in advance for a cup
of soup and a hotdog and leave five cents extra for me to get candy. You might think back then that she would stay
home so I could go home for lunch, but pop being a teacher then made very little. After school in the evening I would get home
ahead of mom and find the key to the house in the milk box and it would be
shortly after that mom would get home.
Then she would start dinner, do the washing (it was not automatic back
then). She would wash one evening, hang
the clothes to dry in the basement, and the next night take them down and
sprinkle them and roll them and iron them the next day. Yes, about three evenings doing the
wash. She also took in washing and
ironing to help pay the bills. Mom also
always had a snack ready for me when I got home from school. One afternoon I got home and made myself a
sandwich of homemade ham spread. I
toasted the bread on that old toaster, one side at a time, put some mustard on
the toast and piled it high with that ham spread.
When mom got
home, she went to feed the dog and asked, Danny, did you feed Mickey? “No, mom I did not,” I answered. Then, I wonder what happened to the dog food
I opened yesterday and had in a dish in the fridge, she asked … Gosh, I just
had a dog food sandwich (been barking ever since). It was good for a laugh, or it was for
her. Yes, I had a good mother, she
worked hard, real hard, and she loved my brother and me. There was nothing she would not do for
us. She made most of our clothes, and
she made our coats and pants we wore to church and Sunday School, and she made
sure we went. She was great. One January day, and I will never forget it,
I came home after school driving my old hot rod Ford and she said, no work today? I said, no, the boss gave me the evening off. (I worked at a service station.) She said good, how would you like to drive my
car and take me downtown (Harrisburg, Pa.) to the Green Stamp Store? (You remember collecting those stamps,
right?) Anyway, I jumped at the chance,
for I just love to drive. So I got
behind the wheel of her old Buick and off we went. As we neared downtown, a real old Buick, yes,
another Buick, was coming at me on the wrong side of the road. Crash, we were hit head on, and Mom went head
first into the windshield, smashing it into what seemed like a lot of pieces, even
though they did not come apart. I was
getting out of the car and could see she was hurt really bad. I went to the other side to help her and the
man that hit us was laughing at her, as he was as drunk as drunk could be. He laughed at my beloved Mamma who was
sitting in her seat with blood running down her face. Well, I drew back to hit him when a policeman
walked up behind me and caught my arm.
Son, I will take care of him, I saw the accident. The man was arrested for disorderly conduct,
not drunk driving. He had no insurance,
so pop had to pay all the bills. Mom
passed away that December, a brain tumor, they said. Most of the time between those dates, she was
just laying in a coma in the hospital, until one night I went in and she was
awake sitting in a chair. She said, I
love you, son. I called my brother at
his work and he went to see her, and she told him the same. I love you, son. She died that night. As I relate this story right now, tears are
rolling down my face, for I know my mother is with Jesus, she loved my brother
and me, but she loved Jesus even more.
The older I get, the nearer I get to seeing her again. Now I don’t want to go yet, but I sure am
starting to get excited about seeing my mamma, and seeing my Jesus.
Yes, my
friends, I think a Mother is God’s second greatest gift. They start out by getting all out of shape
just to carry a child in their womb, then they go through the pain of
childbirth, and that is only the beginning of the pain a mother goes through
for her children. They change so many
stinky messes, I don’t understand why they would want a baby. Then they have to take care of you when you
go through the two’s and then as the kids grow they become teenagers, and then
comes that driver’s permit and car. Does
a mother ever get done being worried about her children? NO!!
The Bible tells us not to worry, but believe me when I say a good mother
never stops worrying about her children.
Mamma would tell me I caused her hair to turn gray, but I know it was my
brother, not me. No, my friends, I would
love to be able to take back some of the things I did that caused my mother to
worry …
So, folks,
if you still have your mother, go and hug her around her neck today if you
can. Don’t get mad at her as she ages,
for she still worries about you, the truth is she never really gave you over to
your spouse, she just said she did. You
know, to this day, I don’t forget my mother and what she taught me. She showed me all those things in the Bible I
need to know, and she raised me up in the way of the Lord. Oh, I took a walk away for awhile after my
mamma went home to be with Jesus, but I came back, just like Jesus said I would
do.
Kids, take
my advice, love your mamma and your pop, hug them often, even if you are a kid
of forty. Let them see your love for
them, and let Jesus see your love for Him also…
Longer Life:
Exodus 20:12 – Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in
the land the Lord your God is giving you…
Who among us
does not want a longer life? Oh, those
of us that are saved often will say we look forward to the day we see Jesus,
and I for one do look forward to that day.
But believe me when I say I am not in all that much of a hurry, as I
enjoy life here on earth, life with my family and friends. And the Bible tells us to live a longer life
here on earth, honor your father and your mother.
I don’t know
if I ever met anyone who did not want more time here on earth, even if they say
they didn’t. Gosh, think about it. Why would we go to the doctor’s if we did not
want to add extra days? People “work out”,
“run”, “jog”, “take walks”, even dance with Richard Simmons, “drink special
drinks”, take all those “vitamins”.
People try to “lose weight”, go to “weight watchers”, “LA Weight Loss”,
drink “Slim Fast”, and stay fit in most any way they can, all trying to add a
few days to their life here on earth.
Millions upon millions of dollars are spent all trying to make a longer
life for us here on earth. Name me one
person who would not like to live to be a hundred if they could keep their
health while doing it. Do you know it
tell us in the Bible ways to live longer?
Longer
Life: Honor your Father and Mother, so
that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you … Sounds to
me like we get extra days for honoring our parents. God gave us these commandments and I am sure
He did not take it lightly when He did.
He must also want us all to think well of our parents as it seems He set
it up that if we honor our mother and father that we would have longer life. Sunday is “Mother’s Day”, one day that is set
aside to remember Mom. I bet if you
would talk to any mother, anyone at all, and would ask them what they really
wanted for Mother’s Day, it would be for their children to honor them every
day. No gifts needed, my mamma would
tell me, just be a good boy all the time.
HEY MAMMA, IT TOOK ME 71 YEARS, BUT I AM BEING A GOOD BOY NOW …
Now let me
just say a few statements here. Do you
know that how you live your life will bring honor or dishonor to your parents
even if what is going on in your life had nothing at all to do with them? Think about that. Just telling mom that you love her one day a
year or taking her out to eat one day of the year does not cut it in my book to
bring honor to your Mother. Folks,
taking care of your mother or honoring her only on Mother’s Day is likened to
the people who only get to church on Christmas and/or Easter. The same goes with our Lord Jesus, how we
live our life day to day will bring honor and glory to Him.
If we live a life that is pleasing to God, then I am sure it will be
pleasing to our parents. If you are
blessed by still having your Mother, honor her this Sunday, and also the other
364 days of the year. And for those of
you like me, who have lost your mother, you may still lie a life to honor
her. Let’s face it, she got you started
in life. You just did not “pop in here.” Amen.
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