Happy Mother's Day- What Is A Mother Worth?

Here is an article that I wrote for the bulletin this week.

(I thank God so much for my nurturing grandmothers, my loving Mom, my sacrificial mother in law, my children's wonderful mother, and my daughter and daughter in law, and all godly mothers who are(were)the most giving people that I know.)

A recent study by Salary.com as reported by AP found that if a mother could paid in dollars, she would make “a nifty sum of nearly $117,000 a year.” They took into account pay levels for ten job titles that she usually performs, including housekeeper, daycare teacher, van driver, psychologist, and CEO. The mother who works outside the home was estimated to get $68,000 for her “motherly duties.”
One interesting aspect of this theoretical salary is that most of her pay would be for overtime, since a typical week for a stay home mom would be 94.4 hours and 54.6 for working moms. This does not really surprise those of us who have been blessed with hard working mothers and wives. Even in the 60’s, my Mom did so much more than just the cleaning, cooking, and sewing that was often described. Today, with the increased demands on children in most every area, from school to sports, Mothers are not only “working,” but they are “overworking.”
This speculation about pay is interesting, but the more important worth of a mom lies beneath what she might be paid if her work was a business. I am reminded of what the apostle Paul told Titus, “the older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things-- [4] that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, [5] to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed.” (Tit. 2:3-5)
Here we might ask, “What is a mother’s love worth?” Mothers will sacrifice for their children like no one else. Thinking back, I realize my Mother sometimes went over board in doing things for us. James and John’s mother went too far for them in Matthew 20:20-25 in asking that her sons might set on Jesus right and left hand when he ruled in his kingdom. Though she was wrong, most of us could show examples where our mothers went to bat for us, when no one else would. That is just how mothers are. But millions of children today are suffering, because they do not have a mother who really loves them. There is no substitute.
Then we ask, “What is a mother’s example worth?” In the text above, the discreet, chaste, reverent woman is God’s ideal. I could say so much good about my children’s mother, but I doubt anything could compare to the wonderful example that she has set for them. Those of us who had the good example of a godly mother should give thanks to God always for it. All mothers should set their sights on being the best example possible for their children. No other role model will be more important than this one.
Furthermore, “What is a mother’s teaching worth?” As the older women teach “good things,” it is handed down from generation to generation. It was no accident that Timothy had the same “genuine faith” that his grandmother Lois, and mother Eunice had (2 Tim. 1:5). He had known the Holy Scriptures “from a child.”(2 Tim. 3:15).
What is a mother worth? The real answer will only be revealed in eternity.
David Courington