Love in the Home

If I live in a house of spotless beauty with everything in its place, but
have not love, I am a housekeeper–not a homemaker.

If I have time for waxing, polishing, and decorative achievements, but have
not love, my children learn cleanliness–not godliness.

Love leaves the dust in search of a child’s laugh.
Love smiles at the tiny fingerprints on a newly cleaned window.
Love wipes away the tears before it wipes up the spilled milk.
Love picks up the child before it picks up the toys.

Love is present through the trials.
Love reprimands, reproves, and is responsive.
Love crawls with the baby, walks with the toddler, runs with the child,
then stands aside to let the youth walk into adulthood.
Love is the key that opens salvation’s message to a child’s heart.

Before I became a mother I took glory in my house of perfection.
Now I glory in God’s perfection of my child.
As a mother, there is much I must teach my child,
but the greatest of all is love.

 

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Definition of a Mother?

A teacher gave her class of second graders a lesson on the magnet and what it does. The next day in a written test, she included this question: ” My full name has six letters. The first one is. I pick up things. What am I?” When the test papers were turned in, the teacher was astonished to find that almost 50 percent of the students answered the question with the word ‘Mother’.

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A Mother’s Stress

A cartoon showed a psychologist talking to his patient: “Let’s see,” he said, “You spend 50 percent of your energy on your job, 50 percent on your husband and 50 percent on your children. I think I see your problem.”

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Children Learn What They Live

If a child lives with criticism,
HE learns to condemn.
If a child lives with hostility,
HE learns to fight.
If a child lives with ridicule,
HE learns to be shy.
If a child lives with shame,
HE learns to feel guilty.
If a child lives with tolerance,
HE learns to be patient.
If a child lives with encouragement,
HE learns confidence.
If a child lives with praise,
HE learns to appreciate.
If a child lives with fairness,
HE learns justice.
If a child lives with security, HE learns to have faith.
If a child lives with approval,
HE learns to like himself.
If a child lives with acceptance and friendship,
HE learns to find love in the world.

Dorothy Law Nolte

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Thomas Edison’s Mother

Who was greater, Thomas A. Edison or his mother?

When he was a young lad his teacher sent him home with a note which said, ‘Your child is dumb. We can’t do anything for him.’ Mrs. Edison wrote back, ‘You do not understand my boy. I will teach him myself’. And she did, with results that are well known.

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The Greatest Preacher

Dr. G. Campbell Morgan had 4 sons and they were all preachers. Someone once came into the drawing room when all the family was there. They thought they would see what Howard, one of the sons, was made of so they asked him this question: “Howard, who is the greatest preacher in your family?” Howard had a great admiration for his father and he looked straight across at him and then without a moments hesitation he answered, “Mother.”

A. Edersheim, Sketches of Jewish Social Life, , Eerdmans, p. 139

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Living Statues

Description
Have you ever tried to change someone? To shape someone into your idea of a perfect husband, a perfect child, a perfect parent? Do our expectations of others in the group help them or hinder them?

Resources
Camera (Optional)

Preparation
Divide the group into pairs. One person is the “Sculptor” and one is the “Statue”

What to Do

  1. If participants already know each other, then without talking, the “Sculptor” must position the “statue” into a pose that best illustrates how he or she sees the other person or to illustrate that person’s place or contribution to the group. If participants don’t know each other well, have them pose the “statue” into a role or characteristic that is important to the growth and well being of the group.
  2. Have each pair work in front of the entire group. Take photos of each “Statue” when the sculptor is finished.
  3. After the statue has been positioned and a photo has been taken, the “statue” must try to explain to the group, what quality he or she thinks the sculptor is trying to illustrate and explain what they think it means to the rest of the group. Verify with the sculptor what was intended.
  4. If you have time, ask the pair to switch roles and do it again.

Taking it to the Next Level
We usually have specific expectations of other people. We have an image in our mind of how they should act, the things they should do, and the characteristics they possess. We may even try to shape them according to our expectations of what they should be. But most of the time it simply doesn’t work. Very soon they go back to their old self, leaving both frustrated.

Debrief

  • How did you feel when your partner was trying to change you?
  • When you were a sculptor, how did you feel when your statue changed position from what you intended?
  • Did you understand what the person was trying to change in you? Why or why not?
  • What were some of your frustrations – from both sides of the situation?
  • How could you have been more effective?

Discussion

  • What are some of the positions or roles that we have in our group? Make a list.
  • What should a person in each role or position do? What characteristics should they possess?
  • Do you ever feel like others are trying to change you? What are some of the things you think other people are trying to change about you? How does this make you feel?
  • Have you ever tried to change another person? What were the results?
  • Would the results be different if you modeled for them what you would like them to become? What if you tried to inspire them rather than force them? What is the most effective means by which we can bring about change in another person’s life? Is force sometimes necessary? If so, how do you know how much force to apply? How do you insure that the change is lasting?

Application
Pick one trait that you would like to see in others in the group and choose to model that in YOUR OWN LIFE! The only person you can truly change is yourself.

Possible Scripture References
Paul Instructed Timothy to “be an example to the believers…” – 1 Timothy 4:12. The word for “example” that Paul used comes from the Greek word “tupos” and is used in the sense of being a pattern, an example, for others to follow. Its like a mold that you can press the clay into so that it takes that same shape. Its like a loom that guides the threads for the weaving. Its like the painter’s masterpiece that his students are inspired to imitate. It’s a physical or visual reference so that you know how something should look when it is completed and that can be used to guide progress. Each of these illustrates, with varying degrees of pressure, the importance of a pattern or an example for others to shape their lives. Christ is that same example for all of us. By God’s grace, one day we might all be able to say as Paul said, “Imitate me as I imitate Christ.” “Follow my example as I follow the example of Christ!” “Follow me to the extent that I follow Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1)

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Mother’s Day Gifts

What NOT to Buy Your Wife
Although the only person a man usually shops for is his wife, the whole experience is a stressful one.

  1. Don’t buy anything that plugs in. Anything that requires electricity is seen as utilitarian.
  2. Don’t buy clothing that involves sizes. The chances are one in seven thousand that you will get her size right, and she will be offended the other 6999 times. “Do I look like a size 16?” she’ll say. Too small a size doesn’t cut it either: “I haven’t worn a size 8 in 20 years!”
  3. Avoid all things useful. The new silver polish advertised to save hundreds of hours is not going to win you any points.
  4. Don’t buy anything that involves weight loss or self-improvement. She’ll perceive a six-month membership to a diet center as a suggestion that’s she’s overweight.
  5. Don’t buy jewelry. The jewelry your wife wants, you can’t afford. And the jewelry you can afford, she doesn’t want.
  6. Finally, don’t spend too much. “How do you think we’re going to afford that?” she’ll ask. But don’t spend too little. She won’t say anything, but she’ll think, “Is that all I’m worth?”

Herb Forst in Cross River, NY, Patent Trader, in Reader’s Digest, Page 69

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Mother’s Influence

When Robert Ingersoll, the notorious skeptic, was in his heyday, two college students went to hear him lecture. As they walked down the street after the lecture, one said to the other, “Well, I guess he knocked the props out from under Christianity, didn’t he?” The other said, “No, I don’t think he did. Ingersoll did not explain my mother’s life, and until he can explain my mother’s life I will stand by my mother’s God.”

James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited, Tyndale, 1972, p. 381

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A mother’s Sacrificial Love

Years ago, a young mother was making her way across the hills of South Wales, carrying her tiny baby in her arms, when she was overtaken by a blinding blizzard.

She never reached her destination and when the blizzard had subsided her body was found by searchers beneath a mound of snow. But they discovered that before her death, she had taken off all her outer clothing and wrapped it about her baby. When they unwrapped the child, to their great surprise and joy, they found he was alive and well.

She had mounded her body over his and given her life for her child, proving the depths of her mother love. Years later that child, David Lloyd George, grown to manhood, became prime minister of Great Britain, and, without doubt, one of England’s greatest statesman.

Source: James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited, Tyndale, 1972, p. 375

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