Sermons of
Dr. Donald J. Wolfram
Pillar of Fire Church

Mother's Day, 1995

Donald J. Wolfram

(pre July 1995)

Henry Ward Beecher, I believe it was, or his preacher father, told of a widow with six sons. She didn't have much money or property, but she labored day and night to bring her children up in a Godly way, and all, it is reported, became "like pillars in the temple of God."

Beecher goes on to say:

"Do not read to me of the campaigns of Caesar; tell me
nothing about Napoleon's wonderful exploits; I tell you that
as God and the angels look down upon the silent history of
that woman's administration, and upon those men-building
processes which went on in her heart and mind through a score
of years, nothing exterior, no outward development of
kingdoms, no empire-building, can compare with what she has
done. Nothing can compare in beauty, and wonder, and
admirableness, and divinity itself, to the silent work in
obscure dwellings of faithful women bringing their children
to honor and virtue and piety."

We know that some mothers may have to work, they may be widows, they may be deserted by careless or wicked husbands, but others are thinking more about their own desires: for a challenging career, for money, for recognition, or a thousand and one other things, and neglect in a terrible way their God-given responsibility to "train up a child in the way he should go." The time is bound to come, in many of these cases, when there will be deep regret that the most important and the most fulfilling opportunities of life have been foolishly passed by, and will never present themselves again.

Would you like an example? Amelita Galli-Curci, the world- renowned singer, was one day talking to her young understudy. This is what she said: "How gladly I would have given it all up to hear a baby call me 'Mother!'"

G. Campbell Morgan says his "dedication to the preaching of the Word was maternal. Mother never told it to the baby or the boy, but waited. When but eight years old I preached to my little sister and to her dolls arrayed in orderly form before me. My sermons were Bible stories which I had first heard from my mother."

But the story does not end there. Dr. Morgan later had four sons of his own, and all four became ministers of the Gospel. "At a family reunion, a friend asked one of the sons, [and the father was present] 'Which Morgan is the greatest preacher?' While the son looked at the father, he replied, 'Mother!'"

On election day some people are happy, and some are sad. When Governor Brewer was elected to his high office -- it may have been in Pennsylvania -- someone informed his mother and then asked: "Isn't this the proudest day of your life?" Her wise answer was this: "Yes, I'm happy, but I was just as happy when my boy joined the church."