Monday Morning Manna: Second Best Thing to do on Mother’s Day

Yesterday was Mother’s Day. It found me wishing I could sit by my mother in church just one more time, but she transferred her church membership to the church eternal in February of 1996. Since my Dad was always on the platform, usually in order to preach, I spent many a worship service sitting by my mother. Once, in Youth Choir, the director asked me why I was singing the alto part. My only thought was that it’s the part my mother sang and since I was standing beside her, it’s the part I learned to sing. Since I couldn’t sit by my mother yesterday, I did the second best thing I could think to do, I preached. My theology causes me to doubt that she leaned down and heard me, but just maybe, the Lord sought her out somewhere on the golden streets, perhaps singing alto in the heavenly choir, and said, “It’s Mother’s Day on earth, and your son preached, and you’ll be glad to know, I think he did a good job.” By the way, if she shared that with my Dad, who was absolutely not singing in the heavenly choir, unless God transformed his voice upon arrival, he most likely said, “I know. It’s because he heard good preaching in his early years.” The writer of Proverbs says of a mother, “Her children rise up and call her blessed” (Proverbs 31:28), then ends his writings with, “Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her own works praise her in the gates” (Proverbs 31:31) or perhaps how it is written in The New Living Translation, “Reward her for all she has done. Let her deeds publicly declare her praise.” Happy Mother’s Day, Mom

Dr. Dan Crawford, Senior Professor at Southwestern Baptist Seminary, is the WestCoast Baptist Association’s Spiritual Life & Leadership Mentor. Follow Dan on Twitter @DrDanRC and Facebook www.facebook.com/dan.crawford.