Billy Graham once said, “Only God Himself fully appreciates the love (and influence) of a Christian Mother.”  I so strongly agree with that.  Moms are truly a unique design.  A design that God Himself has even experienced as He was born to Mary.  No doubt He was held in her arms, tucked in, read to, sung to, prayed for, loved on, and protected…all of these things and more that have been divinely wired into the heart’s fabric of mom.

Not only is the nature and love and heart and strength of a mom designed and known first hand by God but also the aspects of the relationship that is only had…uniquely experienced between a mother and her child.  I remember growing up and going through these phases.  When I was very young I was wild, out of control…as I grew I became fearful and a bit timid and then as I got into my teens I became very angry and restless…all products of my circumstance but I always remember kneeling in front of my mom’s arm chair there in the living room and just putting my head in her lap and for that moment, all was stable. 

I was calm, no longer fearful and the anger would be quenched.  I’ll carry those sure yet fleeting moments of refuge with me for the rest of my life and that memory, that relief that I found in my relationship with my mom growing up, has even an impact upon me today.  How?

 It drives me to create that place of safety, that place of love, that place of security, that place of refuge, that place of “everything is alright child”….for my little ones. 

That memory echos in my heart when I talk to people and see and hear that what Paul said in Romans 8:22 is 100% true to form…that “all creation groans and labors” and I recall what Paul wrote to Timothy in 1 Timothy 3:2…that I am called under God to be hospitable…to be a hospital for those that groan, for those that are out of control, for those that are fearful, for those that are angry…what a profound affect a mother has on her child!

Now for you it may be different.  It may be a song that your mom sang to you at bedtime, it may be her prayers, it may be her smile when you cried…whatever it may be…it’s there and it is there by design.  It is there as a gift from God…a gift God so thoroughly understands both in creation and in experience. 

I want to tell you today…that love, that unique affection that God has designed into a mom was first found in His own character.  I believe that God wrapped His adoration, His cherishing, His delight, His devotion, His fervor, His passion, His yearning, His comfort…His love…into a design and then chipped off the tiny, miniscule portion that we as mortals are able to endure, are able to contain, and from that He molded the “mom.”

God’s design for mom so wonderfully reflects His heart for His creation.  Why do I say that?  Look, the similarities are striking!  God’s love for you is eternal, never ending!  A mother’s love for her child?  Constant and unconditional!  God’s love for you and for me is not predicated on you or me…it’s not predicated on us, but rather upon His own nature of love, and his declaration that He is our Daddy…He declared that, not us!

And so His love for us is solely founded upon His relational position to us.  The Bible says that we love Him because He first loved us…A mom, the love of a mother is not predicated on her child but by the very fact that she is mom…she is relationally compelled and in that purpose, in that truth, the love is purely unconditional and simply “other.”  It’s unlike any other.

Because the love God has for me and the love a mother has for her child is uncaused on my part and uncaused by the child, in that it is constant and unfailing.  Good or bad, rich or poor, quiet or loud, strong or afraid, happy or sad, gentle or angry, love remains.  God’s love for you and for me remains.  Mom’s love for her child remains. 

Turn over to Romans Chapter 8 and look with me at verses 38 and 39.  Paul, in distress, in a time of great need, finds his head in the lap of God as he pens these verses regarding God’s love for His children.

For I am persuaded (in other words, he has seen it true, he has felt it true) for I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

Is there any doubt that God has fearfully and wonderfully designed mothers as the very ambassadors of His love for us?  Mom’s you are so special and such a gift from God to us.  We don’t say it enough but thank you…thank you for all you do…that you for all of your prayers…thank you for taking care of us and loving us and accepting those sleepless nights, those lukewarm meals…those thrift store shirts.

I’d like to share a story with you that I read this week.  The story is set in the time of WW2 and the holocaust which took the lives of millions of Jewish people – including the lives of Solomon Rosenberg & his family. Amazingly, this is a true story.

Solomon Rosenberg & his wife & their 2 sons & his mother & father were arrested & placed in a Nazi concentration camp. It was a labor camp, & the rules were simple. "As long as you can do your work, you are permitted to live. When you become too weak to do your work, then you are exterminated."

Rosenberg watched his mother & father marched off to their deaths, & he knew that next would be his youngest son, David, because David had always been a frail child. 

Every evening Rosenberg came back into the barracks after his hours of labor & searched for the faces of his family. When he found them they would huddle together, embrace one another, & thank God for another day of life.

One day Rosenberg came back & didn’t see those familiar faces. He finally discovered his oldest son, Joshua, in a corner, huddled, weeping, & praying. He said, "Josh, tell me it’s not true." Joshua turned & said, "It is true, poppa. Today David was not strong enough to do his work. So they came for him."

"But where is your mother?" asked Mr. Rosenberg. "Oh poppa," he said, "When they came for David, he was afraid & he cried. Momma said, `There is nothing to be afraid of, David,’ & she took his hand & went with him." 

That is the heart of our God!  To take our hand and endure even death, even the cross to protect us, to love us, to save us.  Would you give you’re life to Him today?  I know you’re out of control…I know your afraid…I know you’re angry…but don’t you see, you’re that way because you’re going this thing alone, rejecting the comfort and the love and the truth of Jesus Christ…just doing it yourself and look, you’re failing…and ultimately, if you don’t accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, ULTIMATELY you’re going to fail!

But love never fails!  And God loves, He loves, He loves you!  God calls out to you in Isaiah 66:13 and says, “As a mother comforts her child, so too shall I comfort you…”

 Mothers, this is your day. May God bless you in it.  And I pray that if there is someone here who has never experienced the love of God that is so close to the love of a mother, that this will be your time of decision. I pray that if you today are walking this life alone, that you will recognize that there is a hand reaching out to you, saying, "There is nothing to be afraid of. I’ll go with you." 

And I pray that you will recognize that one has already gone through it for you, and by that, He has made it possible for you to live alive, live free and live forever.
He extends His loving invitation to you in much the same way that a mother opens the doors of her heart and her home and invites her children to come in, lay their head on her lap, and be at rest… He invites you, too. I pray that you will come.