The book of Proverbs teaches us a lot about our responsibilities to our Mothers. Look at these passages: 6:20: “My son…do not forsake the teaching of your mother.” 10:1 “A foolish son is a grief to his mother.” 15:20 “A foolish man despises his mother.” 19:26 “He who drives his mother away Is a shameful and disgraceful son.” 20:20 “He who curses his mother, his lamp will go out in time of darkness.” 23:22 “Do not despise your mother when she is old.” 23:25 “Let your .. mother be glad, and let her rejoice who gave birth to you.” 30:17 “The eye that …scorns a mother, The ravens of the valley will pick it out, And the young eagles will eat it.” 30:11 “There is a generation that … does not bless their mothers.”
Notice that the generation that God speaks against is a generation that “neglects” to do something concerning the mother. Bless means to “say good words” to her & about her. But the focus of the word “bless” is not on the external words themselves but the heart from which they come. It is the heart of appreciation. So we might say, “The generation that God disapproves of is a generation that does not appreciate their mothers.”
They say a preacher hasn’t preached unless he has challenged you to do something. My challenge today is for every child to bless their mother today. It will be too late one day to express your appreciation. I wish I could be the little girl sitting on the curb crying. A man stopped at a flower shop to order some flowers to be wired to his mother, who lived two hundred miles away. As he got out of his car, he noticed a young girl sitting on the curb sobbing. He asked her what was wrong and she replied: “I wanted to buy a red rose for my mother. But I only have 75 cents, and a rose costs $2.00.” The man smiled and said, “Come on in with me. I’ll buy you a rose.” He bought the little girl her rose and ordered his own mother’s flowers. As they were leaving, he offered the girl a ride home. She said, “Yes, please! Take me to my mother.” She directed him to a cemetery where she placed the rose on a freshly dug grave. The man returned to the flower shop, canceled the wire order, picked up flowers, and drove the two hundred miles to his mother’s home.