Mother's Day Sermon 2010

Happy Mother’s Day! I originally thought writing a Mother’s Day sermon would be easy. Boy was I wrong! How do you write a sermon recognizing all mothers and still have some kind of message in it??

Well last week when Steve was talking about how Christians are called to daily take up their cross and carry it, meaning we are called to suffer; it made me think of my message!

July 17, 2008 Katie called me to ask me if I wanted to do Fine Arts Camp the following week. I said sure, I had been hoping she would ask me to help with it, I mean who wouldn’t want to combine their two passions? Turns out I wasn’t going to be helping with Fine Arts Camp, I was going to be the Dean of Fine Arts Camp. The person who was supposed to do it backed out that day. I had eight kids, seven girls and one boy, a weekend to find some sort of theatrical thing for them to learn and perform, and a weekend to plan an entire camp that should have had at least a month of planning, and I was going to be by myself. Wow, talk about culture shock. So I spent my forty eight hour weekend planning camp, 7 Bible Studies, Eight Monologues, 1 skit for eight people with only one guy, and a song to be mimed. In one weekend I went from being a counselor to being a Dean. Well Monday rolls around and we are making final rounds of cleaning and final preparations for the week before the kids got there, and it hit me, I am supposed to teach these eight kids about God and Theatre in one week, by myself. Oh my gosh, well lets just say that it was the first of many break downs that week. I shut myself in my cabin so no one would see me cry because I hate it when people see me cry and I called my mom. I was scared to death of the coming week, I was ready everything was organized and scheduled and I knew what I was doing but I was going to be by myself. All the other counselors had to be with their own camps, and I didn’t even get a co-counselor. My mom calmed me down and told me to turn on my music because she knows that is what helps me the most, she also knows that is where God talks to me, and then she said if you need me call me, I am only five minutes away and will come help if you need it.

So I went got my iPod and by the time the kids were coming in I was calm, collected, and excited only my mom and a couple counselors knew just what was going on inside of me.

I met my kids Jordan, Lizzy, Libby, Allie, Rose, Joe, Madi, and Tionna. Each one was completely different. Libby, Rose and Joe are triplets and unless you know them you could not tell by looking, they get along great, and Libby and Rose have two of the best voices I have ever heard. Followed closely by Jordan and Lizzy two best friends who were not sure if they were ready to spend a week away from home but could harmonize better than most college kids. And poor Joe had to put up with all the girls by himself, he was such a great sport! Madi was the quirky one and Allie was the shy one. And of course you have to have the problem child right? That was Tionna she was the oldest and she did not want to be there, she was an atheist whose Grandma made her go. One day at dinner I had my eight children sitting around a table and I sat at the head of the table, and said wow I feel like a mommy! And from that moment on, that is who I became. And for the first time in my life I started to understand just what a mommy does. Most of that week for me is a blur I don’t remember a lot of it because most of the time I wasn’t there. I don’t know who it was that led those kids that week, because it certainly was not me, it had to be God. The day I learned that Tionna was an atheist and didn’t want to be there, it became my soul’s mission to make her see the love of Jesus in me and camp. I just wanted her to feel a little of what I feel everyday. We had many conversations alone and I had the entire staff praying for her. Every ounce of who I was that week wanted my eight children to come to know God the way I know him, and to be able to spend eternity with them.

Mommy, when are we going swimming? Mommy, its hot outside, Mommy, is it time to eat yet? Mommy, what’s for dinner? Mommy, do we have to go to bed?

That’s right I became a mommy. No planned parenthood, no nine months to prepare. No, God blessed me with eight teenagers of my own for five days. Let’s just say I loved those kids as if they were my own, but I pray that God does not bless me with octuplets of my own!

All I wanted to do every single day was crawl into my own mommy’s arms and make it all go away. I loved those kids with all I had and for one it wasn’t enough, she never did find God the way I wanted her to, but I planted some seeds that really wish that I could water and watch grow but that is not my job. I watched seven of my children accept Christ for themselves and discover his love in their own ways and it was one of the coolest things to watch. One night while reading a passage from Psalms to my girls at bedtime I asked them how it made them feel (it was a passage about God’s love and how big it is). Jordan said, “It blows my face off.” We spent the next ten minutes or so laughing really hard because she meant to say it blows my mind, and then that statement became our motto for the rest of camp, And for my life.

God’s love really does blow my face off. Because when you love like God loves and give it all you have then it isn’t your face that people see, they see the face of God. And that is what a good mother is like. She gives everything she has for her children. She would die for them and still want to give more. Nothing she can give them is good enough for her, her children will never understand what she goes through every single day for them. I got a glimpse of it that week, when more than anything I wanted to give up and walk away because it was so hard and stressful, and I broke down many times. The moment I heard Mommy, I wiped my face and put on a smile and turned around and said yes dear! I can only imagine doing that for the rest of my life, and I am looking forward to it. And for the counselors that saw me that week, and even my own mom, I’m sure a lot of them were glad when it was over and I would go back to being the me I was the rest of the summer. But that week changed my life. I learned what it means to truly love someone with your whole heart, and what it feels like when your heart breaks because there is nothing else you can do. So to all you mothers thank you, you truly are angels and because it wouldn’t be a sermon from me if it didn’t have a song this one is for you!

Angels – Randy Travis

Me and some of the boys were sitting around the other night
Started talking about politics, religion, love and life
And what a shame it was about 9/11
And what about hell and what about heaven
And is there or isn't there angels on earth
And then one guy said
Well you can take that for what it's worth
If it's something I can see or something I can touch
Well I might believe in all that stuff
So I just had to say to him

Are you telling me that you've never seen an angel?
Never felt the presence of one standing by?
No robe of white
No halo in site
Well you missed the most obvious thing
Man, are you blind?
Just look in your mothers eyes

And then I said who went through the pain
And smiled through the tears on the day of your birth?
She counted your fingers and toes and thanked God you were whole
Son you outta know who loved you first, that's right
And who always came running everytime you cried out
And how many more things have you forgotten about
And who tried their best to teach you wrong from right
And how many nights did she leave on the light
While she waited and prayed that you came in
And who'd be there for you right up to the end
Think about it tonight

Are you telling me that you've never seen an angel?
Never felt the presence of one standing by?
No robe of white
No halo in site
Well you missed the most obvious thing
Aww Man, are you blind?
Just look in your mothers eyes

Aww Man, are you blind?
Just look in your mothers eyes
That's right

Twenty years ago on this day, well on Mother’s Day, there was a baby baptized in this church. The young parents at the time couldn’t have had any idea of what that would really mean for that child. To bring her up in the church and to make sure she memorized her Bible verses and sang in the choir.

Well Mom and Dad I want to say thank you. Today is Mother’s Day and I couldn’t think of any better way of celebrating this wonderful day then to come back to the place where my journey began and thank one of the people who have made my life what it is. You couldn’t have known twenty years ago when you decided to baptize me in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, that I would take that decision into my own hands and find the greatest love anyone can know, and discover my calling to serve my Heavenly Father each and every day. On Friday I will be moving out to camp for another summer filled with all the things I love and doing what I have been called to do, share God with all the youth I come across. Yesterday I graduated from Cowley and in a couple months will be moving on to Southwestern. When I go to Southwestern I will be moving out, and stepping out on my own. Most kids my age have already moved out but I am so glad you “made” me live at home. These last two years I have learned many life lessons and got to do it all while sleeping at home and living a college life. So don’t worry Mom you won’t notice much difference when I leave, except my room will always be clean and my bed will always be made, sadly the amount of dust will probably stay the same! I love you and I will never have the right words to tell you just how much you mean to me, so for now Thank You! And be ready because “Mommy, Mommy I need you,” will be going off plenty of times in the future I am sure, which is the sound that goes off every time I call her!