BIBLE READING: Ruth 1:11-18
But Naomi said, “ Turn back my daughters why will go with me? Are there still sons in my womb that they may be your husbands? Turn back my daughters, go – for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say I have hope , if I should say have a husband tonight and should also bear sons, would you wait for them till they were grown? Would you restrain yourselves from having husbands? No my daughters for it grieves me very much for your sakes that the hand of the Lord has gone out against me. Then they lifted up their voices and wept again and Or’ pah kissed her mother -in-law but Ruth clung to her. And she said, “ Look, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.” But Ruth said, “ Entreat me not to leave you, Or to turn back from following after you; For wherever you go, I will go, And wherever you lodge, I will lodge; Your people shall be my people, And your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, And there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me and more so if anything but death parts you and me. When she saw that she was determined to go with her, she stopped speaking to her.”
I want you to understand that it is a blessing to have a good mother. Mothers are the beginning of your purpose of good foundation and blessing. A bad mother breeds bad foundation. In life, a child goes through three stages of life: Isaiah 9:6 says “ For unto us a Child is born, Unto us, a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder: And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
When you are born as a child, you tend to graduate into son ship or daughter ship. At this juncture, girls are being trained better than boys because mothers starts training girls from the beginning to the end. Hence, they graduate from girls to women and eventually marry their husbands. When the women grow old, they still serve their grandchildren. In a traditional Nigerian society, when children are to be punished by parents for some juvenile delinquencies or misdemeanors, the grandmothers will shield them. Grandmothers shields their grand children the same way hens protect her chicks from being devoured by hawks or eagles. Mothers know how to shield or cover up their husbands because they are born to serve in all their days. As girls, they support their parents better and they still help when they get married. Naturally, they are born to serve unlike the men. Women tend to know the sizes of shoes, under wears, pants, shirts etc of their husbands. They are naturally wise since they are trained by mothers. Girls understand their mother’s language better than the boys. When girls get married, they help to discover their husband’s destiny. Generally, women influence people to be hardworking and successful. An adage says “behind every successful man, there is a woman”
WHAT TAKES TO BE A GOOD MOTHER
- CARING ATTITUDE: Mothers have a caring attitude: They don’t allow parents to beat their children.
- LONG SUFFERING: Mothers persevere, tolerate and endure. Some are still in marriage because of the fate of their children. In short, they have the spirit of long suffering and they are able to resuscitate abandoned projects of the family.
- SACRIFICE: Pregnancy is a risk. During the gestation period- from the first day of pregnancy to delivery, mothers don’t sleep, they are worried, uncomfortable, sometimes sick etc. They bear the pains when they are in labor and sacrifice sleep when the child is born. Naturally, they sacrifice their time and life for their children.
- POWER TO PROTECT: Mothers always protect their children. They do not utter a cause on their children because they are aware of the reparation. Mothers do not reject their children which is a heritage from the Lord. Mothers protect their children just the same way animals protect their children.
- LIVING A GODLY LIFE : I f mothers are Godly, then children are considered blessed. Genesis 25:5 says “ And Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac.” He gave gifts to the sons of his concubines. Abraham gave God to Isaac; Isaac gave God to Jacob; Jacob gave God to Joseph; Mary served the Lord and became the mother of Jesus. In the book of Esther, Deborah dealt well with people.
Everybody knows that God made you a good person. You have to be a good mother. Being a mother means that you are representing God to take care of the ills of the society. God wants you to be a good mother and you must fight to be a good mother. You have to protect your children to prevent fomenting troubles in the society, accommodating unwholesome abominable acts and other social ills, for example, gay practice. The General Overseer prayed for mothers for long life and peace in their homes.
