A woman phoned a friend and asked how she was feeling. "Terrible, my head's splitting and my back is killing me. The house is a mess, and the kids are driving me crazy." With deep sympathy, the caller said, "Listen, go lie down, I'll be right over to cook lunch, clean the house, and take care of the children while you rest. By the way, how’s Sam?" "Who’s Sam?" the tired mom gasped!  “My heavens," exclaimed the caller, "I must’ve dialed the wrong number!" There was a long pause…  "Are you still coming over?" the harried mother asked hopefully.

It’s not easy caring for children.  During a flood, one family sent its little boy to stay with an uncle in another part of the country, accompanied by a letter explaining the reason for the nephew’s sudden, unexpected visit.  Two days later the parents received a telegram: “Am returning boy. Send the flood.” Those of you who have little boys in your house understand. It’s not easy being a parent.  It’s not easy being a mom.

Today we honour our mothers for the amazing blessing they are to us.  And since not everyone can be a mother, and there are others who have helped take care of us and pass on Jesus’ peace to us, we will include other “mothers” deserving to be honoured:  Sunday school teachers. Nurses and workers in assisted living centers. Foster mothers.  Teachers. Any woman who takes care of children in a God-fearing, parenting role.  We thank God for you today!

Mothers love their children deeply.  They generally want be with them, protecting them from danger in life.  While the kids are young, mothers can be with them most of the time.  But the day comes when those children go off on their own.  And their mother will want them to be prepared for the dangers and challenges in life!  When the day comes that she can no longer physically be with them all the time, she will want to be with them “in spirit.”

Jesus said to his disciples before He left them, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”  Jesus had been with his beloved disciples most of the time for the last three years.  Now Jesus was going to be physically withdrawing from his disciples.  But with his Spirit, He would always be with them!  And He wanted them to be prepared for what they would face in life.

Christ wanted his disciples to have real, inner peace when He was no longer with them.  He didn’t want them to be afraid.  He was sending them out into a hostile world.  As long as they served and followed Him, they would not know any outward peace.  They would be rejected, persecuted, imprisoned, tortured, and put to death in nasty ways for witnessing to the Gospel.

TV evangelists may promise you that if you follow Jesus, God will pour out His blessings.  But Jesus never made such a claim!  His disciples had no idea what outward peace was!  But they had an inner peace that the world could not shake!  That’s What God Wants for His Children. Isn’t that what you want for your children?  You can’t protect them from every snare, every heartache or trouble, no matter how much you may want to.  I know some of us try.
A new term has crept into our lexicon–“helicopter parents.” Those are parents who hover over their children all the time and try to protect them. Ironically, the main thing helicopter parents achieve is that their children lose their ability to cope with problems by themselves!

Even the best helicopter parents can’t protect their children from all of life’s bullets and arrows.  The way we can really help our children is giving them an inner peace in a world of turmoil!  What we want for our children is what Jesus wanted for his disciples, what God wants for us – inner peace, inner strength, that will allow them to stand tall in the hour of testing.  Now, how do we give them that peace that the world can neither give nor take away?

First of all, we tell them who they are.  We let them know they are valuable in God’s eyes.  If they know that God values them, they will be well prepared for life.

A group called Sweet Honey in the Rock wrote a song titled, “No Mirrors in My Nana’s House.” One of the singers explained how the song was created. A friend told her about growing up in her grandma’s house in a very poor neighbourhood.  She said, “You know, in my Nana’s house there were no mirrors.”  She asked, “So how did you know what you looked like?”

“Well,” her friend said, “my Nana told me.  Every morning after dressing & combing my hair, I would go to Nana and ask, `How do I look?’ And she would tell me. She would tell me I was beautiful.  She said my skin was smooth and golden brown, kissed by the sun, and my eyes shone like silver moonbeams. In my Nana’s house, there were no mirrors, so I saw myself through my Nana’s eyes who loved me.”  Wow! What a wonderful gift to give to a child.

If we only look into the “mirrors of the world,” we are going to hear a very different message about what makes us beautiful and valuable!  And that message isn’t going to bring us any kind of “peace.”  But when we turn to God’s Word, we are comforted with the value He places on us.  (explain)   How important for mothers, for parents, to instill this truth in their children!

Do you get afflicted with “sunset fatigue?” When we come home at the end of a day’s work, those who need our love the most, those to whom we are most committed, end up getting the leftovers. Sunset fatigue is when we are just too tired, too drained, or too preoccupied to love the people to whom we have made the deepest promises. Sunset fatigue has set in when you find yourself rushing even when there’s no reason to; when you set up mock races (“OK, kids, let’s see who can take a bath the fastest”) that are really about your own need to get through it; and when there is an underlying tension that causes sharp words or sibling quarrels.

Does that communicate to our children the love and patience God has with us?  That they are valuable creations of God?  It’s a challenge, but with God’s help we need to rise above our fatigue and frustration so that we can communicate to our children that they really are invaluable in God’s eyes. And that we love them, too.  That’s how we share the peace God wants for them.

Secondly, we give them real peace when we discipline them and help them develop a sense of responsibility. 
In a short story called “Beth Martin’s Pretty Mother” a daughter decides that her mother needs a makeover.  Beth Martin’s mother used to be quite a beauty.  But then Beth’s father died, and Mrs. Martin was left to run the farm and care for Beth all by herself.  She was determined to give Beth every opportunity.  She let her own clothes wear out so that she could buy Beth fine dresses.  She worked from sunup to sundown to pay for Beth’s fine education and private music lessons.  She never asked Beth to help with the chores, so she wouldn’t be distracted from her homework or her music practice.  Beth, though a fine girl, soon became lazy and spoiled.

But one day Beth went to the doctor and asked for a prescription to put the colour back in her mother’s cheeks.  The wise doctor wrote out a list of instructions for restoring Mrs. Martin’s beauty.  First, he suggested Beth give her mother some sincere compliments and expressions of gratitude for all her hard work.  Next, Beth was to buy her mother a nice dress and invite her out for an evening of entertainment.  Then, Beth was to start cleaning the house, helping out with the farm, and cooking the meals.  That day, Beth began following the doctor’s prescription; and in no time at all, her mother looked more relaxed and prettier than she had in years.

It’s a beautiful Mother’s Day story, but my guess is that the effect on Beth was greater than the effect on her mother! Lazy, spoiled children are not happy children and they will not be happy adults. Beth needed to be helping around the farm long before this. We do our children no favour when we deprive them of the opportunity of contributing to the family’s well-being.  How will they discover that they are capable unless we require them to help with tasks around the house?  How will they develop the discipline they will need to succeed in life if we do not set expectations for them?  Some parents fail their children because it is easier to avoid conflict than it is to teach them to pick up their clothes, clean their rooms, help with the housework.

And we help them find real peace when we discipline them.  Parents also need to correct what is wrong.  That mirror Nana has should not only show the value God places on each of our little cherubs, but also reveal they have a flawed, sinful heart, just like we do!   God holds children accountable to the same standard of love his law demands of us.  We need to let our kids know that love is different from thinking they are “terrific” at every moment.  Love also means showing them where they are wrong, and correcting it.  Firmly.  Kids can be naughty.  Discipline is the highest form of love parents can show.  It isn’t a “no-no” to say “No.”  And mean it.

But third, and most important, we share Jesus’ peace with them when we share Jesus’ forgiveness with them.  When we help them develop a sense of God’s presence in their lives.

Pastor Walter Wangerin tells how his mother helped him find God.  He writes of a childhood crisis of faith. For a long time, he thought he was the only person in his church who couldn’t see Jesus.  His mother took him to church every week.  He noticed the joy and peace that radiated from the church members’ faces. He wanted to meet this Jesus they talked about.  But he had never seen Jesus in his church. So little Walter set out on a quest to find Jesus. He searched all over his Sunday School classroom, but found no signs of Jesus.  He crawled under the pews, but still didn’t spot Jesus.  He poked his head in the pastor’s study.  He even sneaked up to the pulpit and looked into this inner sanctum.  No Jesus.

Finally, little Walter thought of one mysterious room into which he had never dared venture.  The ladies’ washroom.  That must be the place where Jesus hung out.  So that Sunday, Walter sneaked into it.  He checked all the stalls, but Jesus was nowhere to be found.  Walter returned to the sanctuary just in time for Holy Communion.  Ordinarily, he paid little attention to this sacred ritual.  But this time, he noticed how peaceful and happy his mother looked after eating the bread and drinking from the cup.  He leaned in close to her, sensing that she bore the answer to his quest. “Mama, what is that?” She tried to deflect his attention, but he wouldn’t give up. “What is that, Mama?  What is that smell?” She finally replied, “Oh, son, that is Jesus.  It is Jesus inside of me.” And little Walter finally understood a tiny piece of the mystery.  Jesus wasn’t lost.  Jesus was living inside of his Mama.

Some of us probably wouldn’t have found Jesus if He hadn’t lived inside our Mama or our Papa or our grandparents or some other loving adult. That’s how we normally come to Christ. We come through the influence of someone very close to us whom we love and admire, who shares with us that God loves us as his children and gave his own child for us.  And because of that, we are forgiven.  That forgiveness is the one and only reason for real peace. And so the question for you mothers today, all you adults, is:  Can a child sense Jesus in your life?  Does your child know Jesus’ forgiveness in your home? What we want for our children is the same thing Jesus wanted for his disciples--a peace that the world cannot give nor take away.  A peace that only comes through the forgiveness Jesus won for us.  Friends, That’s What God Wants for His Children!   Amen.