Mothers Day Service 2025

One day a third grade science teacher was teaching his class about magnets. The next day he wanted to test if the students remembered his lesson. He asked, My name begins with an M, has six letters, and I pick up things. What am I? The answer, My mother, was the reply.

Can't you just feel it? It's Mother's Day. Today's message is a little bit different because we are not only here to worship the Lord, we are also here to honor mothers and grandmothers and all the great mothers in our lives. It's a day for greetings and expressions of love. It's also a day for remembering.

True motherhood is a lifelong task. It's a calling, a privilege, and a true pleasure most of the time. But motherhood is not easy. By the time a child reaches 18 years of age, a mother has juggled some extra 18,000 hours, that's 750 days, of child-generated work.

One mom once said, The joy of motherhood is what a woman experiences when all her children are finally in bed. Ah, Mother's Day. It's sweet. It's happy.

It's beautiful. And it's complicated. Some women are delighted to celebrate the day and come to church on Mother's Day. But some women are hurting so deeply that they dread the day or even skip church.

How do you shower love on moms but show love and compassion to the wounded? Many women would have loved to become a mother, but for some reason they could not. Some people do not have the best mom in the world, while others may have lost their mom through death. Some mothers have lost children, where others carry the weight of wayward children. It's understandable why this day is very difficult.

For them, Mother's Day is a constant ocean of emotions. Today, we especially think of and pray for these fragile and wounded women, but thank God for putting these ladies in our lives. No matter the situation, no matter the circumstances, and no matter the struggles, moms are the bold and beautiful women who usually are the glue that holds a family together. There is a great saying from Napoleon that says, the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.

Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, Men are what their mothers make them. And the scriptures are rich on great portraits of motherhood. There was of course the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus. Then there was the mother or stepmother of Moses, who cares so much for her son that she broke the law in order to teach him the faith of his people.

Proverbs 31 reminds us the story of King Lemuel's mother, who gave advice to her son about godly living and how to pick a good wife and mother. And of course, there's the powerful story of a mother's love, where a mother was willing to give up her child to another woman rather than let any harm come to him. Back when Solomon rose to the throne, he sought God and God allowed him to request whatever he desired. Solomon humbly recognized his inability to rule well and nobly asked for the wisdom he would need to govern God's people righteously.

Solomon could have asked for anything, such as riches and a long life or victory over his enemies, but he didn't. The scriptures tell us, God granted Solomon his request. And incidentally, God also gave Solomon all those other things as well. But little does Solomon realize that this gift of divine wisdom would soon be put to the test.

There were these two mothers, rumored to be prostitutes by trade, who lived in the same house. Each gave birth to a son within days of each other. And during the night, one mother laid on her newborn child, smothering it, and it died. She took the dead child and replaced her roommate's living child, hoping she wouldn't notice.

Soon before daylight, the second mother rose to nurse the child. And as it got lighter, she got a good look at the child and realized it wasn't hers. Even though this woman's child was only a few days old, she knew it wasn't her child. Back in Solomon's day, there was no DNA testing.

So before long, the two women were presenting their case before Solomon. Their conflicting claims created the dilemma, and Solomon was faced with the task of discerning who the true mother was. The two mothers argued back and forth, but in a moment of brilliant wisdom, Solomon proposed a solution to determine the real mother of the child. Solomon said, Both of you say this live baby is yours.

Someone bring me a sword. A sword was brought, and Solomon ordered, Cut the baby in half. That way, each of you will have a part of him. Please don't kill my son, the rural baby's mother screamed.

Your majesty, I love him very much. Give him to her. Just don't kill him. The other woman, in a cruel, selfish, and heartless act, shouted, Go ahead, cut him in half.

Then neither of us will have the baby. Solomon, perceiving the real mother's love and selflessness, intervened decisively. He declared that the living child should be given to the woman who pleaded for the child's life, recognizing her as the true mother. The people witnessed Solomon's divine wisdom and were in awe of his ability to discern the truth in such a challenging situation.

Solomon couldn't be fooled. And in the end, you can't fool mother either. One of the things this short story shows is how mothers know their offsprings. Another lesson that we learn, in spite of how wonderful moms are, mothers are not perfect human beings.

Nobody's perfect. Nobody has the perfect mother. Nobody is the perfect mother. As much as we hate to admit, the perfect mother has never been born, never invented, never existed.

Hopefully this should relieve some of you mothers here this morning who think you don't or didn't meet your own expectations of motherhood. You're not expected to be perfect. You will make mistakes. My mother wasn't perfect, but God chose her for me, and I thank God for that.

But try to fool mom, you can't. They know when you're lying. They know when you're trying to hide something from them, when you're sick, when you're afraid or worried. Mothers just know.

They have the sixth sense, eyes in the back of their head, a special gift from God. Most of the times we don't realize the sacrifices that mom makes because they don't tell us. A good mother sacrifices for her children. You buy them the best things that you can afford, even if it means going without things yourself.

You take them to practices and school events and social events, even if it means taking up most of your time that you could be spending on yourself. You encouraged them to participate in sports, in band, and in a dozen other activities, even if it means more work for you. Life before children was mostly carefree, simple, and easygoing. Well, once blessed with a child, you not only have your problems, but you gain your children's problems and sometimes even your husband's problems.

There is no one definition of motherhood. It's a combination of raw emotions, experiences, and individual hopes and dreams for their children. A good mother will always hurt when her children hurt, no matter how old they get. Being a mom is high stress.

The stress may get lighter or change with time, but it never disappears. Motherhood is a lifelong ministry. It's a little like wrestling a gorilla. You don't quit when you're tired, you quit when the gorilla is tired.

Every mother has their own path to motherhood, but the rewards are essentially the same. In our society, a mother is considered old-fashioned to her teenagers, yet she is just mom to her youngsters and simply mommy to the little two and three-year-olds. But there is hardly a thrill in a mom's life that can compete with their child saying to the world, She is my mother. I remember when my son was five years old and my daughter was just a baby.

I'd come home from work to the smell of motherhood, dirty diapers, wash drying, and Stephanie all clean and fresh lying asleep on the couch. I sensed it was a stressful day for my wife, but she never complained. As a young woman, I'm sure she didn't sign up for this kind of life. In her mind, I wondered how many times she thought about that carefree, simple, and easygoing life prior to kids.

But she fed the kids when they were hungry. She laundered all their clothes. She helped them study history and math and wiped their dirty noses. She cooled their fevered brow with cloth.

She taught them how to ride a bike. She even taught them to eat foods they didn't like. Although I'm sure that lesson really hasn't stuck. She wore old and faded clothes so kids could wear something new.

She set an example so I would know what to say and what to do. And she often worked from dawn to dusk to make our house a home, her eyes shining with motherly love. Elaine used every opportunity to train and teach our children. The essential values needed to be a good Christian mother, a good Christian people.

But those days have passed. Now wrinkles Grace Elaine's brow. Her hair has turned a little grayer, but she's still mothering and grandmothering. Grandmothers and great-grandmothers are special individuals too, and we honor them today as well.

For all mothers, past and present, each of you women of God have a heavenly father who will always take time for you, always. So let's face facts. There's no such thing as stress-free motherhood. There's no such thing as stress-free mother.

There's no such thing as a perfect mother. But hear the good news. God is always there for you. And he'll give you the wisdom you need at the right time and in the right place, just like he did for Solomon.

Don't give up. You're not in the struggle alone. God is always there for you. So enjoy it, cherish it, embrace motherhood, no matter where in the circle of life you are.

Motherhood is not a split decision. You win overwhelmingly by the grace of God. Happy Mother's Day. May today and every day be a very special day for you to reflect and remember.

Amen.