A Christian Attitude on Mother’s Day 5/11/41
Scripture: use Proverbs 31: 10-31
Mother’s Day is a day on which it is easy to be uselessly sentimental. (1 or 2 mothers object). We are persuaded that it is an occasion over which something should be done. But if it means nothing more than ordering the florist to send a few flowers, or sending one of the telegraph company’s prepared messages, or getting misty eyed over some sentimental list of poorly-written poetry about somebody’s mother, which appears in a newspaper, the day is hardly worth observing.
It is easy to lose sight of the primary thought of the day. The very idea of Mother’s Day is bound to suggest that we all owe a great debt to our mothers. Every man and woman knows full well that our mothers, or someone acting in their place, have paid a great price in time, and strength, and thought and self-sacrificing effort to make each of us what we are or ought to be. Anyone who remembers, even partially, how many meals his mother has prepared for him, how many times she has nursed him through illness, how often she lost needed sleep getting up in the night to cover him and care for him, how many times she stayed home “because of the children” when it would have been fun to go out, how patiently and persistently she has taught him to do what is right and how faithfully she has punished him when he did wrong, knows as a matter of common sense that he is tremendously indebted to his mother. That is a simple matter of fact and calls for deeper recognition than any display of sentimental nonsense. As a further matter of fact most mothers expect to do all of those things for their children as a part of their life-work, and do them because they want to. And fathers care for their families for the same reasons.
Here is a fact then. We are reminded, on this occasion, that we owe a debt of gratitude or recognition to our mothers. How shall it be honorably paid?
Well, let us not attempt to pay it in counterfeit currency. I believe there is an economic axiom that cheap money drives out that which is good. Responsible economists are forever warning against inflation because they believe that the issuance of a flood of cheap money brings disaster. The same thing is true of goods. Let the market be flooded with cheap, inferior goods, and the quality goods gather dust on the shelf.
One of the trials of a writer who tries to maintain high standards of literary taste and expression is the competition of a flood of cheap, shoddy reading matter. Those who wish to maintain high and holy standards of religious expression in the churches are sometimes disheartened by the ease with which shabby, silly, vulgar imitations of high religion gain a foothold in our land. I have a pet peeve over the persistent use of “God Bless America” which seems to me a flimsy and transitory thing as compared to the depth and fervor of our national anthem. Whether we speak of the coin of the realm or the coin of the spirit, it seems true that what is cheap threatens, for a time, the rightful place of that which is worthwhile.
The fact that we so generally honor a special day is some evidence that we feel a need for it. But we may make a travesty of it. The day, like Christmas and even Easter, can easily be invaded if not monopolized by commercial interests. Perhaps this indicates a tendency to respond to the lure of buying off a responsibility that can not be paid for so casually.
Kipling has given the world a fair picture of the assurance which a son has of his mother’s devotion:
“If I were hanged on the highest hill,
Mother o’mine, O mother o’mine!
I know whose love would follow me still,
Mother o’mine, O mother o’mine!
If I were drowned in the deepest sea,
Mother o’mine, O mother o’mine!
I know whose tears would come down to me,
Mother o’mine, O mother o’mine!
If I were damned in body and soul,
I know whose prayers would make me whole,
Mother o’mine, O mother o’mine!
It is a far cry from such a verse to the crude insincerity and slushy sentimentality of a flood of “Mammy” songs and similar drivel.
If we are to pay our debts to our mothers, let us make honest payments! And payment can be made with equal effect whether a man’s mother is still in this life or on beyond.
The only valid way to pay the debt is to think, act, live in an attempt to be the really fine people our mothers have wanted us to be. In other words, the service is usually not so much to be paid back as passed on.
Were we taught to be scrupulously honest? Very well - let us see to it that our every act and fulfilled obligation shall make us men and women known as those whose word is as good as our bond.
Were we taught to study for facts and work for accomplishments? Let no subtle impatient desire for shortcuts give us an excuse for getting soft in mind or body.
Were we taught to be fair and considerate to our families, friends, and associates? Let no selfishness spoil our possibilities as members of the brotherhood of man.
Were we taught to pray? Let us all see to it that the flame of our trust in God is now fanned vigorously, for a man’s true religion is the ship’s keel that keeps his life steady in every storm or in calm.
Were we taught to have some concern for other people? There is plenty of need for such concern now that you are a man or woman. Consider the matter of physical health of mothers and children in every community. And consider those refugees flying from persecution and war, the friendliness and help of other human beings their only hope.
Consider the Menace to decent family morals and training which the presence of inferior dwellings and conditions of want presents to hundreds of families directly, and all of us indirectly. Here is a challenge to the grateful sons and daughters who are privileged to live in better houses. What does motherhood mean in slums? Drudgery, squalor, disappointment and a hopeless outlook on the future of the children. Similar conditions are found in migrant camps, or on Southern share-cropper’s farms.
Remember that the very speed and complexity of the lives of all of us tends to break down the integrity of family life today. If we are grateful for a happy childhood home, with thoughtful guiding parenthood, let us see to it that no stone at our hand is left unturned to keep our own homes happily together. Let us play up the accomplishments of the family. And let us see to it that our voices exalt family life in the community and give honor to the arts and skills and accomplishments of homemaking. Let us remember that it takes not only a mother, but the whole family to make a home function as it should. After all, this day is, in one very real sense, not so much a day for making much of Mothers as it is a day of reminding you and me, a mother’s daughter or son, that if we live as a credit to our mothers, the honor will be apparent.
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Dates and places delivered:
Pilgrim Church, Honolulu, May 8, 1938, AM
First M.E. Church, Huron, SD, May 12, 1940, AM
Wisconsin Rapids, May 11, 1941