Thursday, July 20, 2017
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Two words, but a valuable reminder about how important Mom is and why she is. Recently, I had occasion to stay at my son and daughter-in-law's house while I recovered from a painful injury. They set me up with a wonderful little "apartment" in their basement – recliner, remotes (of course), kitchenette. And like all the babies in our family, a night monitor. Now, I needed some help in the middle of the night, but I hadn't touched the pager. Suddenly, I hear my daughter-in-law's feet coming down the stairs. In my 3:00 AM haze, I said, "But how did you know?" She smiled and gave those two little words: "Mom ears".
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Mom Ears".
There's something a lot of us have to celebrate in the mother that God put in our life. Those Mom-ears who heard our silent cries over the years, who heard our need when others would only see our deed. Who heard the heart that our words couldn't express. Who listened to our jabberings, our dumb jokes, and our endless attention-getting antics. Who heard the unspoken fears, the unspoken pain, and carried them to the throne of God. Sadly, mom-ears have also heard mean words that they didn't deserve, angry words that left a scar, rebellious words because we didn't want to hear what we now know was wisdom. But somehow, a Mom heart could reach for some of God's amazing grace, and forgive, even though wounded.
As a dad, I learned early how important it was for me to seek and respect what my wife heard in our kids, believe me. Those times when I got home and I was ready to drop a bomb on a disobedient child, she would intervene with "actionable intel" of what was going on behind the scenes in their life. Not just in their behavior but in their heart. I'm not sure moms fully know their massive power to define their child's life for better or worse.
Proverbs 31:26 says, "She speaks with wisdom on her tongue." And in a verse worth considering, our word for today from the Word of God in Proverbs 14:1 it says, "The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down."
Sure, I know moms who've turned their God-given Mom-ears to the seductive song of our world, "all about me". And their children languish under the awful cloud of "I'm not worth much. My Mom doesn't think so". Deafened moms can't hear themselves nagging, controlling, criticizing, diminishing – hoping to make a "super kid" and crushing them in the process.
The Mom-ears that have tended to miss their children's cries are those who stopped listening to the One who gave her those children. Psalm 127:3 says, "Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from Him." It's so easy to succumb to the selfie drumbeat of "my rights, my pleasure, my flourishing". And a sort of deafness can grow. Deaf to those quiet little cries in the night, the intuition to drop everything and listen to someone I love. The Heavenly Father's promptings as He (in the words of the Bible) "gently leads those who have young." (Isaiah 40:11)
But thank God many of us were blessed, not with a perfect mom, but with a mother whose ears truly heard us. If you have a mom with those wonderful "ears", would you tell her how her finely-tuned heart shaped your life and changed your life while you can.
If you're a Mom who wants to have better ears for your children, just know there's amazing power to do that. In the Jesus whose relentless love led Him to die for our sins, which are the great relationship-wreckers. There is no greater life-force on earth than a woman whose ears are always open to the voice of God and the voices of those she loves.
And for the one who listens to all this with little to celebrate – because your Mom really wasn't one – there is a higher hope. Because God has said, "Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion for the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will never forget. See, I have engraved you on the palms of My hands." (Isaiah 49:15-16) On the palms of His hands, with nail prints.
His ears listen all day, all night for the deepest cries of your heart.