Christian Reflection and Prayer

"A Greater Love"

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should
be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the
world does not know us is that it did not know Him. 1 John 3:1

All of us have watched professional sports.

It doesn't matter if it's hockey, football, baseball or championship
chess, when the cameras zoom in on the winner, he or she will
stop whatever he or she is doing, hold up an index finger, and
say, "Number one." If the camera stays on them for a second or
two longer, they will mouth the words, "Hi, mom!"

Why is it always mom who comes to these players' minds at
the moment of success? Why not, "Hi, wife!" or "Hi, kids!" or
"Hi, dad!" or even, "Hi, college coach that brought me to this
point where I'm making a gazillion dollars"?

Why do they always say hello to mom?

Like the rest of us, these athletes know their mothers are
standing behind them. Indeed, a person can commit an
unspeakable crime and everyone will abandon him -- everybody --
except for Mom.

Look at Mary, Jesus' mother. As the Savior was dying to take
away the sins of humankind, almost everybody else had deserted
Him. Embarrassed or frightened, most friends had fled from His
side. But Mary, the Lord's mother, stayed at the foot of the cross
(see John 19:25).

It's Mother's Day and it's right we celebrate it. But what is it we
celebrate this Mother's Day? Is Mother's Day merely a time to
give thanks for a biological individual who struggled and suffered
through her children's sins, stunts and shenanigans?

The church, Christ's church, says, "No!"

The church, Christ's church, says, we rejoice in Christian mothers
who, with love, write on the hearts of their children what the rough
hand of the world cannot erase. In doing so, we remember birth
mothers, adoptive mothers, and mothers who never had a child to
call their own. We remember all who found it within themselves to
speak to the little ones of the Lord's gracious love.

We remember those who have shared how God's Son experienced
the ultimate loneliness so our sons, our daughters might never be
alone; how God's Son suffered so our children would never have to
suffer eternally; how God's Son laid down His life so our sons and
daughters might live. Most importantly, they told how God's Son
rose so our sons and daughters might have life. God's Son rose so
all who believe in Jesus as their suffering Substitute, their victorious
Friend, their living Lord, will live forever.

Dear mothers, look into your cribs and cradles. Look at your young
children, your teens, your young adults, your children, with families
of their own. Look at your grandchildren growing up in a different world
than we could ever have imagined.

Look at them. Do you love them?

Of course, you do! You've laid down your lives for them, but God loves
them with a greater, a deeper, longer- lasting love than yours. How
great is the love the Father has lavished on us. His is a love so great
that His Son died so we might be called children of God.

THE PRAYER:

Dear Lord, for those women who have loved us and sacrificed
themselves for us, we give thanks. May their love remind us of the
Savior's love, and their sacrifice of His. This we pray in Jesus' Name.
Amen.

Pastor Klaus

Verse

I give you a new commandment, that you love one
another. Just as I have loved you, you also should
love one another.
John 13:34

Voice

The beginning of love is the will to let those we love
be perfectly themselves, the resolution not to twist
them to fit our own image.
Thomas Merton

Prayer

Lord, you show us the same compassion and
commitment that a mother has for her tiny child.
Teach us to care so completely. Show us how to
delight in serving with the same joy you show in
nurturing our creation. Amen.
Common Prayer

Proverbs 24:16 we read, “for though the righteous fall
seven times, they rise again

The verse doesn’t say that the righteous get up again;
rather the language is very precise when it specifies
that the righteous rise again. This teaches us that not
only do the righteous get up after failure, but they rise
to new heights. They are greater than they were before
they fell in the first place.

We keep pushing forward even when we fail. It’s only
through perseverance and pressing on that we are able
to reach our goals. From every failure, we get smarter;
from every fall, we can rise higher.Consider the following:
Babe Ruth, who held the world record for the most
home runs also struck out 1,330 times. Michael Jordan,
one of the greatest basketball stars of our times, was
cut from his tenth-grade basketball team. Abraham
Lincoln lost eight elections, failed at two businesses,
and suffered a nervous breakdown before he was elected
president of the United States; now he is considered
one of the greatest presidents in American history. The
list goes on and on

KEEP PUSHING FORWARD!!!!!!