Saturday, May 11, 2013

May Flowers: Special Delivery


Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her.
Proverbs 31:28

Julia Ward Howe (d. 1910) was a prominent American activist who called for a "Mother's Day for Peace" in 1872. Later attempts to honor mothers were unsuccessful until Anna Jarvis of West Virginia created the forerunner of today’s Mother's Day in 1908 in honor of her mother. President Woodrow Wilson formalized Mother's Day nationally in 1914. Jarvis died in 1948 regretting that her holiday had become so overly commercialized. In the midst of the commercialization, however, Mother's Day is third only to Christmas and Easter in terms of church attendance in America.

Fortunately, the Judeo-Christian tradition has all the reasons needed to support and honor mothers every day of the year. Children are to bless their mother, and husbands are to praise her not just on the second Sunday of May but throughout the year. Just as Solomon bowed down before his mother, Bathsheba, and set a throne for her next to his own, so the mothers in our lives deserve equal honor
(1 Kings 2:19).

Quote:

I learned more about Christianity from my mother than from all the theologians of England.

John Wesley

Recommended Reading: 1 Kings 2:18-20

From: Turning Points Magazine & Devotional