February 9
"The child Jesus did not receive instruction in the synagogue schools. His mother was His first human teacher. From her lips and from the scrolls of the prophets, He learned of heavenly things. The very words which He Himself had spoken to Moses for Israel He was now taught at His mother's knee. As He advanced from childhood to youth, He did not seek the schools of the rabbis. He needed not the education to be obtained from such sources; for God was His instructor"
Desire of Ages, page 70 from the chapter, 'As a child'
How important are Mothers! The photograph of the lady to the left was one taken of my Mum many years before I was born.
I have long since realised that a church without women’s ministry is lacking a vital tool in it’s ‘armoury’. No, I’m not about to advocate women’s lib, but I rather suggest that if we want strongly spiritually supported mothers for our ministers in the making (our children) we need our mothers to be supported by other women.
At some stage our children will need more than their mothers as their mentors. They need instructors who themselves have God as their instructor that the children may learn at the feet of people who have walked with God.
What happens next? The next step for Jesus was that he learned directly from God as His instructor and went on to teach us.
Could I suggest that we should have more in mind than simply creating children who we pray will choose, at an appropriate time to be baptised. Rather, we might begin to think how we can create an environment for our children to choose Godly service as their prime motivation.
That, of course, brings us back to the ministry of mothers. How can we nurture our mothers?
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