Despise Not a Mother’s Love

Church Family:
As De Witt Talmage wrote, “There is no emotion so completely unselfish as motherly affection. Marital love expects the return of many kindnesses and attentions, but the strength of a mother’s love is entirely independent of the past and the future, and is, of all emotions, the purest. Your child has done nothing in the past to earn your kindness, and in the future your child may grow up to hurt you; but still from the mother’s heart there goes forth inexhaustible affection.

“Abuse cannot offend it; neglect cannot chill it; time cannot efface it; death cannot destroy it. A child’s harsh words receive gentle chiding. When your child neglects you, your watchfulness increases. For harsh words it offers gentle correction; for the blow it gives loving care; for neglect it gives even greater watchfulness. It weeps at the prison door over the wayward child, pleads for mercy before the governor, and is led away by compassionate friends from watching the struggles at the gallows. Other lights go out, but this love keeps burning without being put out. Other loves can wane, but a mother’s love burns on without extinguishment, as in a gloom-struck night you may see a single star, one of God’s bright shining lights guarding the outposts of heaven. Oh, despise not a mother’s love (Proverbs 23:22).

“And if you have been neglectful of your mother, and you still have the opportunity for reparation, make haste. If you could only look in for an hour’s visit to her, you would rouse in the aged one a whole world of blissful memories.

“What if she does sit without talking much: she watched you for many months when you knew not how to talk at all. What if she has many ailments to tell you about: for fifteen years you ran to her with every little scratch and bruise, and she doctored your little finger as carefully as a surgeon would bind the worst fracture.

“You say she is childish now: I wonder if she ever saw you when you were childish. You have no patience to walk with her on the street; she moves so slowly: I wonder if she remembers the time when you were glad enough to go slowly. You complain at the expense of providing for her now: I wonder what your financial income was from one year to ten years of age.” (This is a slightly edited quote from a sermon by De Witt Talmage late 1800s that blessed me this week so I had to share).

To mothers: This is a reminder that your love matters deeply, even when it goes unnoticed. The constant care you give, the sacrifices you make, and the patience you show are never wasted.

To children of mothers: This is a call to gratitude. Honor your mother while you can, thank her while you have the opportunity, and do not delay affection that may one day become regret.

Seen you Sunday, eternally thankful for moms: Steve