Mothers and Grandmothers gathered in. At first only four or five appeared. Then others drifted in, in two or threes with the occasional child in tow.
We discovered that many of these mothers had had upwards of 5-8 children each. Many had gotten married young, like in their teens or early 20's. Some had even become a grandmother by the age of 40. So motherhood was very real to them.
We had come to visit and share something with them about loving mothers; hoping it would be more of an exchange and interaction of shared experiences, and a mutual encouragement. Both of us who'd come to visit were mothers and one already a grandmother as well.
After some prelimiary introductions, the question was asked,
"Who finds a mother's job easy?"
The general consenous was that no one did. However, motherhood is a very important job, with many aspects to think about and to do for our children to grow them into responsible aldults.
And of utmost importance, the spiritual growth. Teaching them #1, who Jesus is and #2 teaching them to love and obey Jesus. Additionally, to know and experience His presence always being with us and the childern, is also key.
But how can we get this message across the generation gap? The verses in Deuteronomy are well-known verses that can give us a good idea of the 'how'.
"You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes, and you shall write them on your doorposts of your house and on your gates" (Deuteronomy 6:5-9 ESV).
Note verse 5 and the inclusiveness of how to love the Lord...
"All your heart..."
"All your soul..."
"All your mind..."
Everything we do and think about, we must do with Christ's love in our hearts, souls and might; the strength of our minds.
As mothers, we need to have it all in our hearts. We have it first and only then can we teach it. Teach it as we go along. We teach diligently.
'Diligently,' meaning carefully. Consistant persistance and being hard-working at our mothering. I suppose this includes being intentional. We have to keep at this work day after day. We pay close attention and use a lot of effort. We do this every single day.
We pay attention to our children's needs. And it's not just the food and clothes and school. These are important aspects of our loving care. We also need to be very sure they know and love Jesus as well.
This is not just sending our children to Sunday School. We must teach them at home too.
Like the verses explain, we must teach them...when we sit in our home; ...when we walk by the road or when tending to our paddy fields or garden, or rubber tapping.
Then some more again, when we lie down to sleep. It starts all over again when we get up in the morning.
For example:
In Malaysia, there are insects with the layman's term, "rainbugs." After a rain, these rainbugs come in a ccloud and circle around lights. They will swarm into your home, at night, when you've got your lights on.
One easy way to get them out in a hurry is to switch off all indoor lights while leaving the outdoors' ones on. Out those rain bugs will fly.
Nevertheless, some will have fallen to the floor and become virtually helpless. They crawl and hide. That's when ants find them. There may be upwards of 9 or 10, or more ants all pulling together to bring their 'catch' home to their hideout.
These ants try very hard to take that one rainbug away. It takes them time. It takes effort. It is not easy for those ants. The ants need to be patient.
And so we can call our children over to have a look, to observe. They could learn about how to be patient. Or the lesson could be about working together for a common purpose or goal. Or just to live together in harmony, without sibling rivalry and the like. They can each have a piece of that 'rainbug,' so to speak.
We can grab such opportunities to teach our Lord's standards and values of His kingdom, saying,
"Come, come children, have a look."
Jesus would want us to learn these lessons ourselves too.
Another example that can teach even longer patience and endurance, over extended time is growing rice. It takes 3-5 months.
First the rice farmer needs to grow seedlings from starter 'seeds'. This can take 15-30 days. Then the seedlings need to be planted. Depending on how many workers work one acre, it could take a couple or more days.
Then the months of tending the precious growing plants. Pests such as rats, insects, birds and caterpillars have to be warded off. It takes time and effort.
Good things we can tell our children, don't happen by magic. It takes time and effort and patience. This is somehting we need to learn too.
Then the harvest time arrives. Depending on how many neighbors are willing to help, we were told, in one long day, one acre of rice could be harvested. Otherwise, it could take 2-3 days or longer.
Once the rice is harvested, the job is still not done. This is where teaching perseverence could join the lesson in patience.
There is threshing to be done, where the rice grains are shaken off the plant. Winnowing that separates the good grains from the lighter ones and removes any unwanted debris, is the next step. All this you can actually research online. However, I did once try my hand at the threshing part. It was not so easy.
It is a long process. We can't grow weary and faint or give up because we need to eat. Food doesn't come easy, we can tell our children and grandchildren. This too, could make for a good lesson in work ethics and doing so diligently in ways that please the Lord.
Furthermore, we can say that Jesus never gave up either. When He came to Earth from Heaven, think of how He was treated. Not very well, and then He was crucified. But He persevered in order to achieve the purpose for which He was sent to earth despite the pain, suffering and affliction. He died so that we could live and have our sins forgiven. He lives now so we know He is real and have a relationship with Him.
And now, back to the rice. We are still not done...
It is at the stage where it can finally be cooked and eaten.
It is very precious food.
Our children and grandchildren are very precious too. It takes lots of time and effort and years to tend and 'grow' a child into responsible adulthood and to know and love the Lord their God and Jesus their Savior.
This kind of patience is something we ourselves need to learn before we can teach our children.
Jesus loves it when we are patient. After all it is one of the aspects of the fruit of the Holy Spirit.
All this and more we can train ourselves to stop and think of other examples that include more than just about patience. There is our Heavenly Father's kindness and goodness, and there's the joy we can have of obediently following Jesus.
Be alert to finding various lessons from our daily lives and the things that happen. Use them to teach the children and grandchildren.
Besides God's Word and life experiences, there's the sermons the Sunday preacher preaches in church. We don't have to memorize every word taught but we 'harvest' what is relevant to us, 'thresh' and 'winnow' how the Holy Spirit speaks to us in our respective circumstances.
What we've learned, then we share with the chidlren in our care in ways they can understand. They will come to know you love Jesus and that He is special to you. We then pray in the hope that they too will come to love Him as much as you do.
These are things a follower of Jesus Christ does.
Part of the Deuteronomy verse says to write God's Word on our frontlets and doorposts. wasn't exactly sure what a 'frontlet' was so I looked up the word and discovered it refers to a band that goes across the forehead.
Some people still wear these. Someone good at handicraft could create one with a message such as, "Jesus loves me." This can serve as a good reminder that we are loved by Him even in a world that may seem not to love you. We still have Jesus who will never leave us nor forsake us because He is the one who loves us (see Hebrews 13:5).
For 'doorposts' or even on our walls at home, we could prepare a text with which to decorate them. It could be the Deuteronomy verses or your favorite ones. You can have it there for your children and grandchildren, and one and all who enter, to see.
All of these have the potential to show our chidlren we value God's Word. This too is a testimony to them as we tell and teach them of Jesus and His love for them; of how He has helped them in the past and how He is still helping you now.
I'd like to end this somewhat lengthy blog entry by telling you a short blurb about our daugther. She actually went to be with Jesus while she was still a baby.
She got very ill and we prayed. But she didn't get well. As I said, she went to be in the arms of Jesus.
Did my husband and I think Jesus could not heal her?
We believed that He could have.
In the Bible there are many examples of Jesus healing the sick, the lame, blind, the deaf and more. He even raised people from the dead. So I know and believe that He could have done the same for our baby girl.
So why didn't He!?
Did I get mad at God?
No. I still trusted Him. I trusted that He is good. That He is doing what's best for my husband and me.
Of course, it really didn't feel like it at the time. But I chose to trust He was doing good for us. My sadness was very real for a long time. In fact, even more than 30 years later something can still trigger tears. But I'm ok.
Why?
Because my friend Jesus comforts me. He lets me walk close to and with Him. This is why I love Jesus and how I know He loves me.
And then I can keep living.
So be sure to tell these true stories that happen to you to your children and grandchildren. And whether good or bad things happen to you, you'll still trust God and Jesus and contiue to love, honor, worship and serve Him diligently.
Your children are watching and will know how authentic you are. Let's pray and encourage each other to continue continuing on in our loving mothers' mode, with sincere hearts until Jesus comes.
Amen.
~ ERC June 2026 ~
Based on Deuteronomy 6:5-9 ESV.
Sing, Count Your Blessings, along with Grace Community Church and Guy Penrod, and We Teach Our Children, along with Anointed Family.
Origianl Title: Loving Mothers, adapted from a sharing with mothers and grandmothers in a rural village setting.
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