Mothers

Mothers

The mother of Nero was a murderer. The English Poet, Lord Byron, had a club foot. His memory of his mother was a single instance of her screaming at him, ‘Get out of my way, you lame brat!’ No wonder he turned out the way he did.

In sharp contrast, Paul wrote to Timothy, “For I am mindful of the sincere faith within you, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois, and your mother Eunice, and I am sure that it is in you as well.” (2 Timothy 1:4). Believing mothers are a blessing! Timothy had that. Samuel had that in Hannah. John the Baptist had that in Elizabeth. Moses had that in Jochebed. Issac had that in Sarah.

In the later years of the fourth century, a believing woman named Monica had three sons and an unbelieving Roman husband, a product of an arranged marriage. She earnestly prayed for these four men. Her husband was converted on his deathbed and two of her sons shortly after. She pursued her third son, literally to the other end of the Roman Empire, praying for him. It was largely through her influence that Augustine came to faith.

Susanna Wesley had nineteen children, and a husband who was largely absent from his family. She made it a rule to attend to her personal devotions daily and devoted an hour per week one-on-one with each child. Two of those children were John and Charles Wesley, who turned the Christian world in England and America on its head.

George Washington was the oldest of five children when, at age 11, his mother was widowed. She committed her life to raising and educating her children. She restrained him as a young man from entering the British Royal Navy, sensing he had some greater purpose. At a reception after the Revolutionary War, in her advanced age, she was introduced to the visiting French dignitaries. At first they were shocked by her simple dress at such an occasion. After getting to know her, though, one French General remarked, “It is not surprising that America should produce great men, since she can produce such great mothers.”

Benjamin Franklin wrote to his mother often, and always referred to her tenderly. In one surviving letter to her, he sent her a gold piece ‘that you may ride warm to (church) meetings during the winter.’

A gray-haired, crippled mother in England prayed earnestly for years for her runaway, wayward son. As a sailor on a slave-trading ship, her son, John Newton, the author of the hymn Amazing Grace, came to faith. John touched many lives, including many who became missionaries and William Wilberforce, largely responsible for the abolition of the slave trade in England.

James Madison was orphaned as a small boy, his mother raised him alone. Alexander Hamilton never know his father. Andrew Jackson once said, “The memory of my mother and her teachings were the only capital I had to start life with; and on that capital I have made my way.”

John Quincy Adams said of his mother Abigail, “My mother was a minister of blessing to all human beings within her sphere of action. Her heart was the abode of heavenly purity. She had no feeling but of kindness and beneficence, yet her mind was as firm as her temper was mild and gentle.”

Sir Walter Scott, inventor of the historical novel and author of Ivanhoe, was influenced strongly by the artistic and literary bent of his mother.

Nancy Lincoln, mother of Abraham Lincoln, set him every Sunday on her knee and read to him from the Bible. She focused often on the Ten Commandments. She died when Abe was nine years old. Her last words to him were, ‘Abe, I’m going to leave you now, and I shall not return. I want you to be kind to your father and live as I have taught you. Love your Heavenly Father and keep his commandments.’ Much later in his life, when asked why he was so honest, he said he could still clearly hear his mother’s voice as she read to him from Exodus 20. He remembered not only that she prayed for him, but the words of her prayers and even the inflection of her voice when she prayed. He said another time, “All that I am or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.”

When Ulysses Grant, as President, attended his mother’s funeral, he instructed the preacher, “Make no reference to me: she gained nothing by any position I have filled or honors that may have been paid me. I owe all this and all I am to her earnest, modest, and sincere piety.”

Presidents Rutherford B. Hayes, Grover Cleveland, John Tyler, and James Garfield all lost their fathers in the early years of their lives and depended on their widowed mothers for their life training. When President Garfield was sworn in as President, he broke tradition in that the first thing he did after being sworn in was to walk over and kiss his mother saying, “Mother, you have brought me to this.”

Charles Spurgeon said this about his mother, “I cannot tell how much I owe to the solemn words and prayers of my Christian mother…Some of the words of our mother’s prayers we shall never forget, even when our heads are gray.”

Presidents Woodrow Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt were both very affectionate with their mothers. Wilson had a mind to become a clergyman – until his mother’s discernment prompted him to become a teacher.

Edith Roosevelt, wife of Theodore, greatly expanded the role of First Lady. She entertained dignitaries, answered much of his mail, and advised her husband daily while he was president – all while raising five young children. Late in their lives, during World War I, their youngest son, Quentin, as an aviator was shot down and killed over Germany. The Germans, hoping to put a damper on American morale, photographed the wreck with Quentin’s body and made it into a postcard. Edith honored her son by acquiring one of the postcards, mounting it in a frame, and had it placed it above her fireplace mantle.

President Calvin Coolidge only ever kept one picture on his desk, that of his mother. It was the last item removed from the White House at the conclusion of his term, and was found in his pocket watch, next to his heart, after he died. Winston Churchill’s biographer compiled a list of people who had taught him over the course of his life. When the list was given to him, Churchill instructed the biographer to place his mother’s name at the top of the list. General Douglas MacArthur said this, “It was my sainted mother who taught me a devotion to God and a love of country which have ever sustained me in many lonely and bitter moments of decision in distant lands. To her I yield anew a son’s reverent thanks for her guidance on a path of duty as God gave me light to see that duty.”

Over the course of his life, as lawyer, Congressman, Governor of Ohio, and as President of the United States, on days when William McKinley did not see his mother, he either wrote or telegraphed her – every single day. In October, 1897, the President slipped out of the White House and took a train to Canton, Ohio, for the sole purpose of walking his 87-year-old mother to church. When she became ill later that winter, he had a telegraph hotline set up between her home and the White House. He kept a special train standing by. One night, the telegraph came for him to come. He telegraphed back, “Tell Mother I’ll be there.” That December 12th, she died in his arms. For a full hour after she died, he did not move from her bedside. Less that four years later, when he was dying from an assassin’s bullet, he forgave his assassin as his mother would have expected. He than asked those present to sing his mother’s favorite hymn, “Nearer, my God to Thee.” His body was laid to rest beside his mother’s in Ohio.

Businessman Henry John Heinz, founder of the great food business empire, was greatly influenced by his mother.  At the end of his life, reminiscing on what shaped the person he became, he said, “This legacy was left by my consecrated mother, who was a woman of strong faith and to it I attribute any success I may have attained during my life.” The main source of her teachings centered around the Bible where she tried to make it clear to young Henry, “to not make your religion so narrow that it will be unattractive to others and don’t make it so broad that you leave yourself no foundation on which to stand.”

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, in giving the eulogy for his mother, former First Lady Barbara Bush, said this, “Barbara Bush filled our lives with laughter and joy and in the case of her family, she was our teacher and role model on how to live a life of purpose and meaning…You see, our mom was our first and most important teacher…Finally, the last time I was with her, I asked her about dying. Was she ready to go? Was she sad? Without missing a beat, she said, ‘Jeb, I believe in Jesus and he is my savior. I don’t want to leave your dad, but I know I will be in a beautiful place.’”

The influence of godly mothers is incredible and should not be underestimated.


Great Preaching on Mothers, Hudson, Curtis, Sword of the Lord, 1988.