A
daily, Bible-based perspective of hope, encouragement and
exhortation.
Send a message to Stephen & Brooksyne
Monday,
May
11,
2020
Planter on
the Old Windmill Farm with the bunny made from a tree by a
friend of theirs. Some people talk of being bored these
days with extra time on their hands - here's a challenge:
Count up how old this bunny is by the rings on his tree
shaped belly.
"A
Consideration Of
Motherhood"
Listen
to this
message on your audio player."Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh" (Genesis 2:24).
Yesterday was Mother's Day, one of two Fifth Commandment holidays we have each year. Of course I'm referring to the Fifth of the Ten Commandments which states, "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you" (Exodus 20:12).
I often ask people, "Are you practicing the Fifth?" and they usually give me a puzzled look leading to an opportunity to explain the Fifth Commandment. But one man was rather perturbed at the question and informed me that he hadn't done anything wrong that he needed to practice the fifth. He thought I was referring to the Fifth Amendment, which prohibits self-incrimination for one charged with a crime!
Well,
everyone should practice the Fifth Commandment
and on Mother's day we have often written a
message using this Commandment as a theme. It is
a commandment we are to practice lifelong; as
children, adults and even after our parents are
gone. Today, although both our mother's have
moved on to heaven, we still want to honor them.
But today let's consider the very first reference to "mother" in the Bible. It comes right after Eve's special creation. Of course neither Adam nor Eve had a human mother or father and this was before they had children, thus it's a prescriptive pattern; that is, God is prescribing the pattern for marriage and the family. Actually we wonder at this point if Eve even knew what a mother was or what childbirth and children were for that matter!
Genesis 2:24 is usually used as the pattern for marriage between a man and a woman and that it certainly is, although we now see it violated in stunning ways particularly with the redefinition of marriage in the last several years.
Let us consider this statement and what is taught: "A man shall leave his father and his mother".
A man: Although not explicitly stated this also means a woman shall leave her father and her mother and hold fast to her husband, and they shall become one flesh".
Shall leave: The pattern is that after a period of child-rearing in the home the child leaves. We can watch this now in the natural world with our various bird families. How conscientiously the mother and sometimes father bird cares for the young. But there comes a time when they are to leave the nest, which requires a little nudging by Mama Bird at times. This is true of the human family as well. Of course there are special exceptions to this such as caring for a special needs child right through their adulthood but the normal pattern is to leave and establish a new family.
His father and his mother: This teaches the pattern and design of long-term faithfulness in marriage. However long we recognize the child-rearing period to be, when the child leaves by design, he leaves his father and his mother. In so many ways this design feature has been so drastically violated and we are certainly seeing the consequences.
Let's be the remnant that follows God's pattern in relationships both with our Creator and with His creation.
Be encouraged today,
Stephen & Brooksyne Weber
Daily
prayer:
Father, it is Your desire that our needs and
provisions are met through
our family connections especially that of a
mother to her child(ren).
We are grateful for the many warm memories we
can stir up by looking at
old photos, enjoying recipes used over the
years, applying a
skill from our mother's teaching or example,
living a life above
reproach because we learned right from wrong at
an early age. We thank
You for Mom who played such a formative role in
our lives. Since no
mother or child is perfect, we look to You for
those areas of
deficiencies so that we can learn or unlearn
things from childhood that
would shrink us back from being the mother or
person You desire, for
our own well-being and for those we seek to
influence. In the name of
Jesus we pray. Amen.
But today let's consider the very first reference to "mother" in the Bible. It comes right after Eve's special creation. Of course neither Adam nor Eve had a human mother or father and this was before they had children, thus it's a prescriptive pattern; that is, God is prescribing the pattern for marriage and the family. Actually we wonder at this point if Eve even knew what a mother was or what childbirth and children were for that matter!
Genesis 2:24 is usually used as the pattern for marriage between a man and a woman and that it certainly is, although we now see it violated in stunning ways particularly with the redefinition of marriage in the last several years.
Let us consider this statement and what is taught: "A man shall leave his father and his mother".
A man: Although not explicitly stated this also means a woman shall leave her father and her mother and hold fast to her husband, and they shall become one flesh".
Shall leave: The pattern is that after a period of child-rearing in the home the child leaves. We can watch this now in the natural world with our various bird families. How conscientiously the mother and sometimes father bird cares for the young. But there comes a time when they are to leave the nest, which requires a little nudging by Mama Bird at times. This is true of the human family as well. Of course there are special exceptions to this such as caring for a special needs child right through their adulthood but the normal pattern is to leave and establish a new family.
His father and his mother: This teaches the pattern and design of long-term faithfulness in marriage. However long we recognize the child-rearing period to be, when the child leaves by design, he leaves his father and his mother. In so many ways this design feature has been so drastically violated and we are certainly seeing the consequences.
Let's be the remnant that follows God's pattern in relationships both with our Creator and with His creation.
Be encouraged today,
Stephen & Brooksyne Weber
Daily
prayer:
Father, it is Your desire that our needs and
provisions are met through
our family connections especially that of a
mother to her child(ren).
We are grateful for the many warm memories we
can stir up by looking at
old photos, enjoying recipes used over the
years, applying a
skill from our mother's teaching or example,
living a life above
reproach because we learned right from wrong at
an early age. We thank
You for Mom who played such a formative role in
our lives. Since no
mother or child is perfect, we look to You for
those areas of
deficiencies so that we can learn or unlearn
things from childhood that
would shrink us back from being the mother or
person You desire, for
our own well-being and for those we seek to
influence. In the name of
Jesus we pray. Amen.Today's
Suggested Music and Supplemental Resources
"A
Mother's Love"
Video
Jim Brickman & Mark Masri
"Mother's
Day Song" Video Christian Paul
(includes introduction)
"Give
You Faith" Video Laura
Story
"Everything
To Me" Video Mark Schultz
Here are
some recent articles dealing with the violations in
God's design for motherhood:
The New Normal Womb for hire
so a famous homosexual man can have a child and purposefully
raise him without a mother. The last part is especially
gripping: "No matter what we tell ourselves about how
willing she was (the surrogate mother) or how better off
she is now, she is harmed and so is her son – who
somehow knew from the moment he was born to look for
her. Unfortunately, he won’t find her."
Did You Have a Mother? An Attempt to
Turn the Entire Moral Structure of Western Society
Upside Down (Scroll down to Part 2) A woman
has a baby who
lives in fantasy that she's really a man and wants to be
considered the baby's father. You can't make this
perversion nonsense up!
U.S. Marriage Rate Hits an All-Time
Low: There’s a Lot More Going On Here Than Economics (Scroll
down to Part 3)
In
honor of our mothers
My sister Genelle sent me this photo which shows us with our Mom and MaMa (our grandmother), on Mother's Day 1960 when I was 5 and Genelle was nearly 3.
This is
one of the last photos taken of my Mom waiting on
the bench beside our house for the van to taker her
to her beloved Senior Center.
Here's our wedding rehearsal dinner on May 7, 1976. Ruth Sherrell would become my mother-in-law and Georgia Mae Weber would become Brooksyne's mother-in-law.
I
(Brooksyne) have been reminiscing over the last couple
of weeks as I have been sorting photos. As of the last
15 years or so most all our photos have been posted on
computer and not printed, but I'm sure glad for the
printed versions that go way, way back. The photo
above is my family and extended family way back in
1957 taken in Oklahoma or Arkansas. Mom is holding me
with Daddy in top center. What I observed about this
photo: as a baby sucking my left two fingers which
became a problem over the years as I got way too old
to get away with such babyish behavior - very, very
hard habit to break (I promise I don't do that
anymore). All four of the little girl dresses matched
including my cousin (middle girl sucking on her beads)
who lived in Arkansas. My mother made all of our
clothing growing up - we were poor by every standard,
but Mom had a way of dressing us up as an excellent
seamstress (self-learned). We couldn't afford new
furniture so Mom took in old and reupholstered making
it look like new. She planted a garden every year (one
year a whole acre which was way, way too much work for
all of us). We canned all summer long all my years
growing up. When we needed more space for our large
family she built a room on the back of the garage. If
we needed something Mom found a way to make it happen,
at a fraction of the cost, with her expertise she
honed by reading, asking, and experimenting. She only
had a 7th grade education.
Ester
took this mother/daughter photo yesterday of the two
of us as we cuddled Sadie (referred to as the
"grand-dog"), by the white dogwood in our front yard.
Ester served us lunch after preparing her specialty,
spaghetti, which is always tasty. She really enjoys
special days on the calendar and never fails to make
it a celebrated day in our family. I'm so thankful
that as she says, our relationship is essential
for a mom/daughter celebration on Mother's Day.
Last
week we mentioned attending a drive-in service at a
local church. We went again
yesterday and these three big trucks joined us. Their horns proclaimed loud "Amens".
Attending a service like this feels kind of like
being in the "Cars" movie!
Mothers
of All Kinds: Yesterday a young lady in the
congregation at Faith Outreach stepped to the
microphone and shared an excellent reading (one that
church leaders might note for next Mother's Day). We
were moved by the excellent writing as the reader
took us from Eve, mother of all living, to Mary,
mother of Jesus and then a consideration of mothers
today. This is really worth listening to and will
touch the hearts of both men and women! Thankfully,
the woman who shared, also shared with me later the
resource and we share it with you today.
Dorina
Lazo Gilmore shared this original spoken word
(embedded video and text) at the Mother's Day
service at The Bridge Church in Fresno, CA. She
reaches out to women and mothers from many walks of
life and reminds them that they are loved and called
by their Heavenly Father. Here's the video. (6:40)
Mother’s Day – A Spoken Word Tribute! Video (3:48) Another well-done presentation.
Mother’s Day – A Spoken Word Tribute! Video (3:48) Another well-done presentation.
Finally
today:
Friday I shared about a problem I had
starting my lawn tractor. The first correct response
came from Stephen Linde, a young agricultural engineer
(Penn State grad), who correctly guessed that I had
forgotten to shut off the PTO!
Send a message to
Stephen & Brooksyne
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Scripture references are from The Holy Bible: New International Version. © 1984 by International Bible Society; NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, New King James Version (NKJV) Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. and the King James Version.
Personal Mission Statement: "I am created by God to bring Him glory. Through God's Son Jesus Christ I have been redeemed and make it my life's goal to please the Lord. My mission in life is to honor God through my faith and obedience and prepare myself and all whom I may influence for eternity."
Scripture references are from The Holy Bible: New International Version. © 1984 by International Bible Society; NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, New King James Version (NKJV) Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. and the King James Version.
Personal Mission Statement: "I am created by God to bring Him glory. Through God's Son Jesus Christ I have been redeemed and make it my life's goal to please the Lord. My mission in life is to honor God through my faith and obedience and prepare myself and all whom I may influence for eternity."
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Weber - All Rights Reserved
Daily Encouragement Net - 495 Kraybill Church Road - Mount Joy, PA 17552 USA
Daily Encouragement Net - 495 Kraybill Church Road - Mount Joy, PA 17552 USA