The great cathedrals in Europe, the towering skyscrapers in our American cities, all the houses, big and small, dotted across our nation — they all owe their survival to an invisible foundation buried deep in the ground beneath them.
Likewise, every family worshipping in those cathedrals, working in those buildings, and living in all those houses, owes their survival to a firm foundation of faith passed down through generations of ancestors. In fact, we sing a hymn titled “How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith in his excellent Word.”
Now walk with me through a garden and admire the incredible colors of the flowers. Smell the fragrance that fills the air with beauty.
Watch the bees and butterflies drawn to the flowers. But nobody ever stopped to praise the roots sunk deep in the soil soaking up nutrition from the soil and anchoring the plant against the wind.
Our nation was, and is, built on a foundation of all the families who live here, and the key to those families is the stability of a good father and the love of a good wife and mother.
“How hard it is to find a capable wife! She is worth far more than jewels! Her husband puts his confidence in her, and he will never be poor. As long as she lives, she does him good and never harm. … Her children show their appreciation, and her husband praises her.”
— Proverbs 31: 10-12, 28
Every mother weaves a tapestry of life into her family. She sinks deep roots to nourish her children and anchor them against the winds of life.
She weaves that tapestry with threads of patience when her toddler spills his juice for the umpteenth time. Threads of sacrifice when she gives up her sleep to comfort a crying child or gives up her time to run a shuttle service to dancing lessons and ball games.
Threads of prayer when her children are sick or in trouble or away from home.
Lots of people believe “holy ground” is a church sanctuary with stained glass windows and red carpet, but the first holy ground most of us remember is sitting at the kitchen table with mom.
Lots of people believe God is love; but the first love most of us remember is the love of a mother.
In the Book of Proverbs, we read that a woman who fears the Lord “looks well to the ways of her household.”
This is not about chores, it’s about “the stewardship of the soul.”
A mother is not just raising a child, she is giving life to the future of a nation!
Charles “Buddy” Whatley is a retired United Methodist pastor serving Dawson Street Methodist Church in Thomasville, Ga. With wife, Mary Ella, they are missionaries to the Navajo Reservation.
