Happy Mother's Day
The late Professor William James, Harvard’s famous psychologist, would frequently illuminate a misty subject with a homespun anecdote. Discussing motherhood once, Professor James said: “A teacher asked a boy this question dealing with fractions: ‘Suppose that your mother baked an apple pie, and there were seven of you – your parents and five children. What part of the pie would you get?’ “A sixth, ma’am,’ the boy answered. “But there are seven of you,’ said the teacher. ‘Don’t you know anything about fractions?’ ‘Yes, teacher,’ replied the boy, ‘I know all about fractions, but I know all about Mother, too. Mother would say she did not want any pie.’”
A Mother’s Day prayer:
Heavenly Father, sometimes the role of mother goes unappreciated and noticed, yet, thank you God, for showing us how valuable these women are in society, and in your precious sight. Thank you, God, for Your continued guidance so that we may teach our children to grow in ways that will make You proud, and thank you for helping us to be honorable vessels which teach by example, rather than mere word. Our thanks, God, may not always be immediate, but when our children have their own children, and we see that that the good ways we have taught them are again passed on to another generation, may our hearts be filled with gladness! This we ask in the name of your son, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Dr. Martin Luther teaches that we are to treat our mothers and fathers with such high respect and honor that only God is esteemed higher than they:
Thou shalt honor thy father and thy mother.
To this estate of fatherhood and motherhood God has given the special distinction above all estates that are beneath it that He not simply commands us to love our parents, but to honor them. For with respect to brothers, sisters, and our neighbors in general He commands nothing higher than that we love them, so that He separates and distinguishes father and mother above all other persons upon earth, and places them at His side. For it is a far higher thing to honor than to love one, inasmuch as it comprehends not only love, but also modesty, humility, and deference as to a majesty there hidden, and requires not only that they be addressed kindly and with reverence, but, most of all, that both in heart and with the body we so act as to show that we esteem them very highly, and that, next to God, we regard them as the very highest. For one whom we are to honor from the heart we must truly regard as high and great.
- Luther’s Large Catechism, Part 1, The Fourth Commandment
Comments
Post a Comment