Since its Mother’s Day, I want to look at Mothers and Others Who Need the Next Step to Raise the Perfect Child. And I’ve got a list of things mothers do not say, just in case you have been making these errors.
- "I think a cluttered bedroom is a sign of creativity."
- "Yeah, I used to skip school, too."
- "Just leave all the lights on...it makes the house more cheery."
- "I don't have a tissue with me--just use your sleeve."
- "Of course you should walk to school and back. What's the big deal about having to cross a few main streets?"
- "My meeting won't be over till later tonight. You kids don't mind if we skip dinner?
- "Could you turn the music up louder so I can enjoy it, too?"
- At 82nd Street Academics, we have noticed that a lot of parents are not experts at it. They bring in the kids whenever the parents happen to wake up or sometimes only when they still remember that they have kids. We have decided that part of our role as
a school is to teach parents how to be good
parents of students. We cannot turn out excellent students if the parents don’t know their role. And some parents just never had the lessons they need for the job.
Maybe you came today to be honored, but also with questions and frustrations. Sometimes we fall far short of our aspirations with our loved ones. So, if you are in the parenting business as a mother, and you don’t feel that you have been a perfect mother to raise a perfect child, we have some great words from the apostle Paul which will be a comfort and guide. The gospel is all about 2nd chances. I hope this is a day which offers you tribute, but also a better sense of what God offers you for the task of parenting in the days ahead.
I have a couple of definitions written by mothers as we return to this theme of Mothers who need the next step to raise the perfect child. FEEDBACK: The inevitable result when a baby doesn't appreciate the mashed carrots. HEARSAY: What toddlers do when anyone mutters a dirty word. PRENATAL: When your life was still somewhat your own. PUDDLE: A small body of water that draws other small bodies wearing dry shoes.
The rule that Paul offers Mothers is the law of miraculous multiplication. Jesus says that we have not because we ask not. And God often places people in situations they have not been in before. Paul starts by saying that you have to look for more than new rules for parenting. Rules are easy to come by but hard to obey. Moses wrote that anyone who insists on using the law code to live right before God soon discovers it's not so easy—every detail of life regulated by fine print! You need more than articles for parenting magazines and web sites and practical formulas learned at play groups and the doctor’s office. While these are all tools, it requires wisdom to know how to mix them into good parenting. John Maxwell offers three thoughts based on the Romans passage.
Mothers, when you need more, One, reach out and express confidence in God, Two, follow the directions, and Three , brace for a great adventure. One, reach out and express confidence in God. Paul says directly -- Say the welcoming word to God—"Jesus is my Master” Oftentimes we feel that life is unfair and that we are in over our heads. Why were we so dumb to get into our situation? And then we remember that God should have protected us better. I cannot tell you why you are in over your head. I can tell you that it’s a universal human experience. And the difference between those who drown and those who swim to shore is not your strength, your brains, family, or money. It is your willingness to come back to God again and again and confess that you believe that God will rescue you.
God delights in showing that grace and peace are ours if we will reach out and claim it. I believe that there are people here today who face some issue this week. Perhaps your spouse, boss, friends don’t know about it. You have tried to think it through. I want you to come at least once a day to God and say, Jesus is my Master and can take care of my problem. And I want you to have a notebook and write a few lines of any changes that happen in your situation. I’m going to ask for testimonies next Sunday. I think that God is waiting for some of you to stop blaming yourself or the world or God and just come back to God and say Jesus is my Master and can take care of my problem.
Two – Follow the directions. Sometimes we know some things from Scripture or from the Spirit of God to get started. Do those things even if you don’t have the full plan.
We have just finished the Prayer Garden, but we sure didn’t have the money and plan complete. We started with some new grass and gravel path. I asked the Irrigation company to put in the watering lines and he wanted to wait until the garden was complete. I told him that this garden was going to be years in completion and the first plants weren’t going to wait for the last. We agreed that he would come back year after year to make changes.
We wanted one of our sons to spend some time in a Christian environment with kids his own age. We had the chance to send him for 2 weeks to a camp two hours north of Toronto and decided to go ahead. We didn’t have the full plan. He was hanging with two many kids in trouble in Buffalo and two weeks wasn’t going to change everything. But it was a place we felt we could do something.
I wish I could report a miraculous turn and that wasn’t the result. But that was my son who had the serious illness shortly after I came to Community Church – and he became a vibrant Christian during that sickness. Was the two weeks in Canada what did it? I have no idea but they say that success has a thousand mothers. I think God counted our willingness to do something before the whole plan was spelled out.
And lastly, brace for a great adventure. Did Paul get the answers to prayer that he expected every time he prayed? No. Friends, we are all broken in some key ways. So our confession – Jesus is my master and following the directions we know allows Jesus to come in and do things in our life that bring healing as well.
Mostly as a mother, you need healing. You need to heal from some broken child hood experiences of your own. You’ve got some areas of self doubt that God wants to take care of. Did Rahab ever think she would be in a traitorous plot to lower spies in a basket? Did Esther ever expect to fight Haman and risk her own life before the king? Did Naomi ever expect to return to Israel with a foreign daughter in law? They each ended with a great adventure. God answered their prayer and brought healing into their own lives. That is God’s plan for you.
One, reach out and express confidence in God, Two, follow the directions, and Three , brace for a great adventure. Journal it so you don’t forget it. And bring your notes to church and raise your hand for a testimony. We like testimonies of what God is doing in you. God bless you richly!
