May 12

Thursday is our Bible Reading Celebration 7:00 pm at my house

Let me know if you are going to attend.

Our agenda includes... sharing what God has taught you, questions, planning for the summer.

Two Kinds of Mothers 1 Kings 3:16-28

There are mothers who are characterized by the spirit of selfishness and heartless cruelty. These are the mothers who you can never please. They are bitter with life. Hateful and armed with a thousand reasons why life is unfair, they pour out their vengeance on their friends and families. These are the mothers who walk out when things get hard. They leave the family high and dry. They don’t care who they hurt, just as long as someone is paying attention to them and making them feel significant. These mothers deliberately cripple their families so they grow up needing them.
Then there are mothers who are characterized by selflessness, service and self-sacrificing love. No price is too great. These mothers think first about their children, then their own life. Their hearts have overcome the bitterness of life and they have learned to give grace and love.

In our story today we have a child born to each of these mothers. Think about the selfless mother waking up to finding her baby lifeless. Then, she discovered that she had been robbed of her child!! Solomon was wise enough to use one of the most powerful forces in the universe to get to the truth – a mother’s love. Solomon knew that the love of a mother for her child – even if it meant separation from her child – would remedy this dilemma. It is a great love that is willing to suffer an even greater loss in order to give a child what they need.

I came across a true story that happened during the Holocaust. Solomon Rosenberg, his wife and their two sons were arrested and placed in a concentration camp. The rules were simple. As long as they did their work, they were permitted to live. When they became too weak to work, they would be exterminated. Rosenberg watched as his own father and mother were marched off to their deaths and he knew that his youngest son David would be next because he had always been a frail child. Every evening Rosenberg came back into the barracks after his hours of hard labor and searched for the faces of his family. When he found them they would huddle together, embrace one another and thank God for another day of life. One day he came back and didn’t see those familiar faces. He finally discovered his oldest son, Joshua, in a corner sobbing and praying. “Josh, tell me it’s not true.” Joshua turned to his dad and said, “It’s true. Today David was not strong enough to do his work and so they took him away.” Mr. Rosenberg then asked, “But where is your mother?” Joshua could barely speak and finally uttered, “When they came for David, he was afraid and cried and so mom took his hand and went with him.”It is just a few day after Mother’s Day. But we all owe thanks to our mothers, for holding our hands and walking with us in our darkest hours – for sacrificing convenience and ease so that we might have companionship. Thank you for overcoming the bitter and negative life experiences and instead of projecting that on to us, you have shown us only gentleness and kindness. And for this, we owe to you a great debt.