Speaker: Darlene Sala | Series: Encouraging Words | Nearly every household appliance comes with an instruction booklet.  Though we usually try to figure out how to use the appliance without consulting the instructions, if we really get stuck, as a last resort we will refer to the manual.

Wouldn’t it be helpful if children came with a manual? In a sense they do, for the Bible gives us good advice on raising our kids. Verses like Proverbs 22:6: “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” Or Colossians 3:21: “Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.” And Deuteronomy 6: “These words which I command you today…You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up” (verses 6 and 7).

A lovely phrase found its way into the Mother’s Day card our grandson Christian gave to his mom. It said: “Children don’t come with a manual, but they do come with a mother!” He then expressed his appreciation for all that his mom did for him. Yes, God’s plan includes a mother.

The Bible describes a mother as a comforter (Isaiah 66:13) and as one who feeds and cares for her children (1 Thessalonians 2:7). We mothers are very possessive of our children! You don’t ever want to encounter a mother whose children have been mistreated or falsely accused! A verse in 2 Samuel speaks of warriors who were “as enraged as a mother bear who has been robbed of her cubs” (17:8 NLT). Stay out of her way!

No, children don’t exactly come with a book of instructions. But how much better it is that God gave us mothers instead of manuals! Thank Him today for your Mom!