MOM
Our newsletter this month is about Moms and Dads, since May and June are the two month’s we recognize them in our country. All of us have a mom and a dad, and some of you may even be a mom or a dad.

Well, God planned all of this in the beginning. He planned for the family. The family is important to God and the Bible tells us all about family living. The Apostle Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus and said,

Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honor thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;) That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Ephesians 5:1-4

Is there anyone more loved than mom? She is the one we run to when we are hurt or fearful. She is the one who can make us get well when we are sick. Mom is the one who understands when we have problems, and she is willing to listen when we come to her with our broken hearts.

Those of you, like me, whose moms have gone on, have a special place in our hearts for them and nothing else could ever take their place. They rest there with memories so precious and wonderful because we all know if anyone loved us it was mom.

In a family we think so much of our moms. So often in a sense they are the backbone of the family. Moms have so many responsibilities around the home. Washing clothes, cooking, housekeeping, shopping, and making sure the children get their homework done are just some of her chores.

She girdeth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms. Proverbs 31:11

Mom

What would I have done,
Without a mom like you.
How could I have made it,
Without your love so true.
Who else would have listened,
With the sympathy you had.
When life became so painful,
And my heart was awfully sad.
I do not have the words,
To express just how I feel.
But today I’d like to say mom,
I remember you lovingly.

Don’t you feel this way about your mom? It was really the best way of life to have grown up with a Christian mother on a little tenant farm. Me and my sister and two brothers were raised by parents who were church people.

My mother did not have a refrigerator or washing machine in the early years with us children. We had no electric lights. Mom had an old iron she heated on the wood stove, or in the winter at the fireplace.

In the Summer, my mom was often out in the field with dad and us children hoeing, planting tobacco, or picking cotton to name a few things. She was the first one up every day and the last one in bed at night.

She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens. Proverbs 31:15

Today’s mom has a different world to live in. They have a freezer, refrigerator, electric iron, a washing machine, dryer, and a dish washer. They also have many electrical appliances in the kitchen, like mixers, microwaves, crock pots, and other items as well. Today’s mom knows how to use complex computers, and cell phones and can operate the high-tech cars and trucks we have today with the fancy electronics. Moms and Dads can do just about anything today, & most will do it well.

Moms quite often have the children to raise and care for by themselves. Through it all they continue to attend necessary meetings, do the grocery shopping, and usually have a public job. There is car insurance, house insurance, health insurance, appliance insurance to name some of the constant things that often moms today help dad take care of. The world today has changed so much and there is so much red tape, that Moms, Dads, and all of us so greatly need the Lord!

My mom needed the Lord and so does today’s mom. She needs the wisdom and blessing of the Lord Jesus to raise her family. Oh, how blessed for children to have a godly mom imparting to her children the love of the Savior.

One thing quite often parents are not doing though, and it is so tragic, is they are not raising their children in a good Bible church. Many children are not raised in church at all, and in this present generation many parents are completely without any spiritual knowledge or instruction. The wisdom writer tells of a generation like the one we have today in Proverbs,

There is a generation that curseth their father, and doth not bless their mother. There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness. There is a generation, O how lofty are their eyes! and their eyelids are lifted up. There is a generation, whose teeth are as swords, and their jaw teeth as knives, to devour the poor from off the earth, and the needy from among men. Proverbs 30:11-14

Listening to the news today you will see how children and young people are killing their parents and grandparents. Why? Because some moms and dads raised their children without God! Parents have a great responsibility before God to see that their children are raised up for the Lord. Scripture clearly teaches we are “without excuse.” Parents must raise their children for the Lord and they will be held accountable for this.

It will be a sad day when at the judgment moms & dads see their sons & daughters led away to hell to spend eternity because they did not raise their children properly. They may have given them everything they wanted when they were young, but they should have given them what they needed, a love for the Savior. 

What most parents do not realize is that their children are not theirs as much as they are God’s. God owns all children. He is the one who gave them their life. He is the one who had a good plan for their life and moms and dads had better think about that before they neglect raising their children as they should, or worse than that have them aborted.

DAD
Now dads, you too have a great responsibility when it comes to raising children. After all, fathers, fathered them. It was God’s plan for a man and woman to be married and to have children. This is the will of God. But it is God’s will they be raised for God.

I loved my dad. He was a hard worker. We worked six days a week at our house growing up. There was always something to do on the farm. You never caught up.

Dad, before we got an old car went to town twice a year. Most of what we needed we raised on the farm, but coffee, rice, and sugar was needed from town. I remember riding to town with dad in the mule and wagon when I was three years old. I thought that was something, me and dad together in town.

Since I was the oldest boy it was my job to plow the mule, milk the cow, feed the hogs and put the cow in the pasture. It was also my job to cut the ditch banks with a bush axe and clean out the ditches. Later my two brothers came along and began to take on some of those chores. What a relief when they could help share all the chores there was on the farm.

The strumming of the guitar strings,
The mellow sound as daddy plays,
The lullaby being sung,
Make memories of yesterday come.

Softly the music speaks,
A language that all men need.
A cord, a downward stroke,
And then, I’m fast asleep.

As the night comes again,
The plucking of the guitar sounds.
As daddy’s humming of a hymn,
Mama listens quietly to him.

Parents should build memories for their children.

Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go to possess it: That thou mightest fear the LORD thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son’s son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged. Dueteronomy 6:1-3

Dads and moms who read this today, may the Lord bless you. HE loves you. I trust you have precious memories that warm your heart because of your dear parents. I pray moms and dads that all our children will have fond memories of us when we have gone home. God bless you all moms and dads!

Heavenly Father, thank you for our moms and dads and the love they gave to us. Bless all our parents today and remind all of them of your great love for each of them. Thank you for the hope we have of our families being together again because of the Lord Jesus Christ who paid for all our sin. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen

"Loving thee Savior" Preacher