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Will the Real Mom Please Stand Up?
1 Kings 3:16-28
THE EVOLUTION OF MOTHERS
[if evolution were true, mothers would have more than 2 hands!]
Here are some of the ways having a second and third child is different from having the first.
Your Clothes
1st baby: You begin wearing maternity clothes as soon as your doctor confirms your pregnancy.
2nd baby: You wear your regular clothes for as long as possible.
3rd baby: Your maternity clothes ARE your regular clothes.
Preparing for the Birth
1st baby: You practice your breathing religiously.
2nd baby: You don’t bother practicing because you remember that last time, breathing didn’t do a thing.
3rd baby: In your first visit to your OB you schedule the epidural.
Baby clothes
1st baby: You pre-wash your newborn’s clothes, color-coordinate them, and fold them neatly in the baby’s little bureau.
2nd baby: You check to make sure that the clothes are clean and discard only the ones with the darkest stains.
3rd baby: Boys can wear pink, can’t they?
Worries
1st baby: At the first sign of distress--a whimper, a frown--you pick up the baby.
2nd baby: You pick the baby up when her wails threaten to wake your firstborn.
3rd baby: You teach your 3-year-old how to rewind the mechanical swing.
Pacifier
1st baby: If the pacifier falls on the floor, you put it away until you can go home and wash and boil it.
2nd baby: When the pacifier falls on the floor, you squirt it off with some juice from the baby’s bottle.
3rd baby: You wipe it off on your shirt and pop it back in.
Diapering
1st baby: You change your baby’s diapers every hour, whether they need it or not.
2nd baby: You change their diaper if no one else notices the need within 1 hour.
3rd baby: You wait ‘til others start to complain about the smell or you see it sagging to their knees.
At Home
1st baby: You spend a good bit of every day just gazing at the baby.
2nd baby: You spend a good bit of every day watching to be sure your older child isn’t squeezing, poking, or hitting the baby.
3rd baby: You spend a good bit of every day hiding from the children.
[read text]
What a classic story! But do you know what
one of the problems is with classic Bible stories? We often learn the
primary lesson and fail to see the rest of the story.
This incident demonstrates that God had given Solomon the wisdom he had
requested as king. It proves that wisdom comes from God.
But the story also provides MORALS OF MOTHERHOOD from an unlikely source.
The first MORAL OF MOTHERHOOD from this story:
1. THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A PERFECT MOTHER.
I do not say this to drag mothers down but to build them up.
No one needs to be treated with more tenderness than our mother. Perhaps no
one is more caring and conscientious than our mother. Sometimes we are too
hard on them. Sometimes they are too hard on themselves.
The two mothers in this story were prostitutes! Their babies were evidently
conceived under sinful circumstances. That grabs you! It makes you sit up in
your church pew and take notice!
Why did Solomon, king over God’s chosen people, even take the time to worry
with two harlots? These women, and the sinful men who paid for their
services, were living out of God’s will. The fact that women like these had
access to the king’s throne is amazing. But not as amazing as any of us
sinners have access to God’s throne as we do!
SOLOMON WAS CONCERNED ABOUT THESE TWO WOMEN BECAUSE GOD WAS CONCERNED ABOUT
THEM!
I don’t have to convince you that the church should stand for moral purity.
But the church should also stand for forgiveness and restoration!
These women were not living up to God’s ideals - yet He still loved them! If
any of us had to wait for God to love us based on our performance we would
all be out of luck!
No, there is no such thing as a perfect mother, just like there aren’t any
perfect among the rest of us. And if there’s anyone in whom we should be
willing to overlook faults, it should be our mother. Why? Because she
overlooked so many of our faults.
We need to lighten up on mom a little, and moms need to lighten up on
themselves a little.
Moms need to laugh and have a good time. Here are a few good laughs for you.
These are some great ones from the "Children’s Letters to God" series,
actual authentic letters written by kids to God:
"Dear God, I read the Bible. What does ’begat’ mean? Nobody will tell me.
Love, Alison."
"Dear God, did you mean for the giraffe to look like that or was it an
accident?" - Norma
"Dear God, I went to this wedding and they kissed right in church. Is that
okay?" - Neil
"Dear God, thank you for the baby brother but what I prayed for was a
puppy." - Joyce
"Please send me a pony. I never asked for anything before. You can look it
up." - Bruce
"Dear God, please send Dennis Clark to a different camp this year." - Peter
"Dear God, I think about you sometimes even when I’m not praying." -Elliot
"Dear God, I bet it is very hard for you to love everybody in the world.
There are only 4 in my family and I can’t do it." -Nan
"Dear God, I didn’t think orange went with purple until I saw the sunset you
made on Tuesday. That was cool. -Eugene
Those authentic letters would make any mother smile!
And just in case they don’t, find something to smile about and make it a
regular habit. Life is too short and God is too good to go around frowning
all the time.
Here’s another MORAL OF MOTHERHOOD from our story:
2. GOD HAS ANSWERS FOR A MOTHER’S PROBLEMS.
Don’t look for stress-free motherhood, it doesn’t exist. From the pains of
giving birth, to the empty nest, to grandchildren and beyond, motherhood is
stressful.
Once again, this is not mentioned to discourage anyone. There is good news!
God is willing and able to assist moms in the problems they encounter.
God didn’t give Solomon wisdom so folks would stand around the palace and
say "ooh" and "ahh". He gave His wisdom for a purpose. God not only loved
those two prostitute mothers, He also loved the little baby in this story.
God dispatched His wisdom to Solomon to save the child.
He has wisdom to spare for parenting responsibilities today. He can guide
and provide for mothers in all kinds of life situations - single moms,
adoptive moms, step-moms, moms with special situations, you name it!
Kids today have special needs. That’s okay. God has the wisdom to give you
for the task. He can teach you what to do and what to say in every
situation.
Like the mom who was tucking her small boy into bed one summer night during
a violent thunder storm. She was just about to turn out the light when he
asked with a tremor in his voice, "Mommy, will you sleep with me tonight?"
The mother smiled and gave him a reassuring hug. "I can’t, Dear," she said,
"I have to sleep with your daddy."
A long silence was broken at last by his shaky little voice: "The big
sissy."
Here’s the third and final MORAL FOR MOTHERS from this story:
3. THERE’S NOTHING LIKE A MOTHER’S LOVE!
It was easy to see who wasn’t the real mom. The real mother in this story
would rather see another woman raise her child than see it split in two.
You have to be willing to give up some things to be a good mother.
Personal sacrifice is a pivotal part of motherhood. It begins by sacrificing
their own bodies by carrying the child around in their womb for nine months.
No child ought to ever get over that sacrifice! Can I have an amen?!
Our mothers fed us, nourished and protected us with their own bodies before
we even saw the light of day. I don’t know anyone else who loves me enough
to carry me around for nine months. No one could carry me today for
nine seconds!
But a mother’s sacrifice doesn’t end there. They keep on giving. They give
up sleep for the midnight feedings. They give up personal goals to help
their children achieve their goals.
Ask yourself how many times you got a new outfit and mom wore the same old
clothes, or how many times she gave you the last helping at supper.
Here’s to You, Mother...
Here’s to all the mothers who have sat up all
night with sick toddlers in their arms, wiping up barf full of Oscar Mayer
wieners and cherry Kool-Aid saying, "It’s OK honey, Mommy’s here."
Here’s to all the mothers who show up at work with spit-up in their hair and
milk stains on their blouses and diapers in their purse.
Here’s to all the mothers who froze their buns off on metal bleachers at
football or soccer games, so that when their kids asked, "Did you see me?"
they could say, "Of course, I wouldn’t have missed it for the world!”
Here’s to all the mothers who sat down with
their children and explained all about making babies; and to all the mothers
who wanted to but just couldn’t.
Here’s to all the mothers who read Goodnight, Moon twice a night
for a year. And then read it again, "Just one more time."
Here’s to all the mothers who taught their children to tie their shoelaces
before they started school. And to all the mothers who opted for Velcro
instead.
Here’s to all mothers whose heads turn automatically when a little voice
calls "Mom?" in a crowd, even though they know their own are at home.
Here’s to mothers whose children have gone astray, who can’t find the words
to reach them. For all the mothers who bite their lips until they bleed when
their 14-year-olds dye their hair green.
Here’s to the mothers who gave birth to babies they’ll never see. And to the
mothers who took those babies and gave them homes.
Here’s to mothers who put pinwheels and teddy bears on their children’s
graves.
Here’s to mothers of children with severe limitations. Your freedom has been
exchanged for cherished service of love.
Here’s to those who have lost their mothers and would give anything to take
them out to lunch today.
Here’s to young mothers stumbling through diaper changes and sleep
deprivation. And mature mothers learning to let go.
Here’s to working mothers and stay-at-home mothers, single mothers and
married mothers. Mothers with money, mothers without. Here’s to you all!
We honor moms for all the giving they do. They remind us of God who is
sacrificial and giving. He gave His only Son for a world of wayward
children.
That kind of love should not go unnoticed and unappreciated. Respond to moms
with great love and appreciation. And respond to the God who created
motherhood the same way.
[from message by Brian Atwood]
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