Mother’s Day is the day our culture pulls over to do what the Bible teaches we ought to do every day – honor our mothers (Exodus 20:12 * Matthew 15:4 * Ephesians 6:1-2). Major kudos to the mothers among us, whether the children she loves and nurtures are her biological children or otherwise. In 1980, Dolly Parton wrote and performed the song “9 to 5” for the 1980 comedy film of the same name. A synopsis of “9 to 5” at wikipedia.org says the movie was about “three working women,” that is, women employed in a corporate office. “Working women” perform vital work outside their homes in hundreds of kinds of different jobs and positions. Nothing new or unusual about that. My own mother was a “working woman” in the 1960’s. She worked hard 8 hours a day, five days a week at a shirt factory. Then when quitting time came each day and she got home, her second shift began! Four kids aged 2 to 10 years old saw to it she had plenty of work to do inside her home. Cooking, cleaning, sewing, repairing, canning, counseling, teaching, training, nurturing, nursing, praising, refereeing, and, if the need arose, spanking. She finally quit her work outside the home so she could work full-time at home! Daddy bought a herd of milk cows to supplement his income, and, I always believed, to keep me and my older brother busy, tired, and out of trouble! But I digress. My mother (and millions like her) never read a book or watched a video by some expert about parenting. And she never attended a rally led by someone seeking to convince her she was a slave or that she really wasn’t making much of a difference because she was a housewife and full-time mother. She never attended a rally to help empower her as a woman. She already had plenty. Remember that old saying, “If Momma ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy?” I remember one occasion when she wasn’t happy with me. I was maybe 13 years old. I don’t remember all the details, but for the first and last time my mother slapped my face. My mouth to be exact. And I remember I deserved it. In anger I used a foul word in her presence and before I could say “shut my mouth” she shut it for me! Then she told me, “Don’t you ever say that to me again.” And I didn’t –ever! Scripture still speaks to Christian women, whether they work outside the home or exclusively inside it, to “bear children, manage the house, love their husbands, to love their children, be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient [or “submissive] to their own husbands, that the word of God not be blasphemed ” (1 Timothy 5:14 * Titus 2:4-5). Motherhood is so many things – but a “9 to 5” job it is not!

Mothers are “bears.” Think about it. They bear the load of pregnancy for nine months. They bear hours of labor. Then, at last, they bear the child and give birth. But the “bearing” is not through. Not by a long shot. After delivery, a mother bears the child in her heart for as long as 60 or 70 years. The umbilical cord is severed at birth, but the cord of love that ties a healthy mother’s heart to her children is never cut. Roseanne Barr said, “As a housewife, I feel that if the kids are alive when my husband gets home from work, then hey, I’ve done my job.” Funny – but very, very false. A gripping verse of Scripture in John 19:25a says that as Jesus died, “there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother.” From His birth to His death, Mary loved and stood by Jesus. She not only stood by His cross, she lived by His values. God give us more mothers like that.