Being the day after Mother’s Day, we felt it important to write a quick note to the moms of America – that they might encourage the men in their family and community to step up and get in the game.
There’s supernatural power in a motherly spirit. When danger is around, moms recognize it and immediately step up. And they’re sure to get dad involved if he’s around – pointing him in the right direction.
I (Jason) remember one night our house alarm went off around 2 a.m. I jumped out of bed, grabbed my gun and then headed downstairs. But my wife, with her motherly spirit, thought of the kids first. She went into their bedrooms and found that our son, Jake, was out of bed. He was sleep-walking and had gone out the front door and set off the alarm. So she ran up to me and told me to put the gun down and start looking for Jake. She stopped me from doing something stupid and got me moving in the right direction. Thank God.
A motherly spirit recognizes when evil is around and is even willing to hurt to protect.
We’re sure the Baltimore mom who laid the hammer down on her son in the streets last week didn’t want to have to hurt him like that, but dad wasn’t around to set the boy straight. Yet the motherly spirit in her wasn’t about to just sit back and let her son be a thug. She was willing to hurt him to get him off the streets.
We don’t remember a time in our nation’s history when the plague of fatherlessness has been more on display than it has in recent months. Ferguson and Baltimore simply show what happens when fathers are out of the picture.
Thank God for the moms and grandmas who have stepped up to get their boys off the streets. Not all of them were recognized like the mom in Baltimore, but there have been plenty of moms stepping up lately. Thank you!
The problem is when dads don’t follow their lead. The breakdown of those cities is a breakdown of the family, which begins with the breakdown of fathers. But a motherly spirit can wake dads up.
In the book of Judges, there was a time when men were not stepping up, so God raised up a woman named Deborah.  In Chapter 5 of the book, it says Deborah “arose as a mother in Israel.” Her motherly instinct caused her to stand in the gap for her nation, and it was the motherly spirit in Deborah that aroused the father in Barak – making him a soldier of the Lord. The two of them together defeated the enemies of their nation.
Sometimes dads just need moms to speak them into action, to breathe courage and hope into them to wake them up and point them in the right direction. The man, Barak, was a warrior – yet even he needed a “motherly spirit” to prod him toward his destiny.
Even Jesus recognized the power of a motherly spirit when He stood outside Jerusalem and said, “How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings …”
A motherly spirit “gathers and protects.” It’s important for moms to continue doing this today in the face of the breakdown of family. When dad goes down, the family is in big trouble, but a woman with a motherly spirit will gather and protect the family from breakdown. We need this badly today!
Lastly, the faith of a motherly spirit is infectious. The apostle Paul wrote to young Timothy reminding him that his powerful faith “first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.” Moms should never give up on their family and trust that their men will start heading in the right direction eventually.
As moms don’t stop loving their men, pointing them in the right direction, encouraging them to be warriors, protecting them, and living out their faith in front of them, the motherly spirit in America can lead to positive societal change. It’s a change that we need desperately need today.
So be encouraged, mommas!
