What does it mean to be a mother?  I suppose the first thing we think about is producing new life.  A mother brings new life into the world.  But not by herself.  She needs the help of a male, preferably one with who she is married.  But bringing the little squealing, squirming bundle of life into the world is only the beginning.  The new life is not simply deposited here and left to fend on his or her own. The mother must feed the baby, and God in his great design has provided the nourishment right from the mother’s body!  Time goes on and mother teaches the baby to take nourishment from outside the mother’s body, she teaches the baby how to get on in this new world to which she has brought the baby.  The baby becomes a toddler, an adolescent, an adult, at each stage receiving the appropriate teaching, discipline, correction, education to enable the person properly to respond to each new step of life.  Do you see the parallel to the Christian experience?  Not every woman becomes a biological mother, but every woman can be a spiritual mother, leading people to Jesus, then not just leaving them but helping them grow in their new life.  There are many examples in the Bible of every kind of mother.  We thank God for the mothers of Calvary Chapel.  You have succeeded and you have failed.  You have triumphed and you have been defeated.  But you have gotten up when you have fallen and your lives are a bright light in a dark place.  I love all of you with all my heart and thank God for you. God bless every one of you!

Dr. Richard L. Shaw Ph.D., Pastor