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We thank God for making a day like this possible when we can honor our mothers. They do deserve the honor. Our mothers are unique and our relationships with them are also unique. When I think about a day like this, I wonder what else can one say about mothers that have not been said before. Absolutely nothing. What we can do is to examine the practical events of our lives and try to make some enduring points out of them. In a home it is often assumed that the mothers are the loving and loyal ones while protection is often left for the fathers. However, there are protections which are instinctive in nature where mothers are best. Our mothers can protect because of the heart a mother has towards her offspring, their urge to protect is the instinctive kind. This instinctive protection of a mother should be constant and, in all circumstances, should be a priority. The Bible teaches about a woman who was a good protector of her child. In Exodus 2:1-4 we read about how Moses’ mother took great risks to protect her son.
Moses’ mother was a slave among a people that can be considered wicked. Their plan was to control the male population of the Hebrews among them. They reasoned that if the male offspring are decimated, they can ultimately take absolute control of the land because they would have wiped out the Hebrew population. Moses’ mother put him in a basket to protect him from the Egyptians. She placed him in the Nile while his sister watched from a distance in the hope that someone who can take care of him will pick him up. The sister watched until one of Pharaoh’s daughters picked him up. Mothers’ instincts have protected us in many ways. They have protected us physically and kept us from danger. Mothers have protected us morally by teaching us right from wrong. Many times, they have also protected us emotionally by keeping us from things they knew would hurt us. Mothers have also protected our spirits and brought us up to love and serve the Lord. We owe our mothers a debt of gratitude.
Something happened in Nigeria recently where a famous actor was arrested for sexually abusing a minor. The allegation was that the famous actor had previously abused this child when she was just seven years old. The mother (foster mother) of the child claims that she just found out that this popular actor, who was a regular visitor to their house at some point, was the culprit of the abuse that happened seven years before. So, in collaboration with some other folks, they decided to set up the actor so that they can have some concrete evidence of the abuse. They did. There was a CCTV video recording that showed the actor touching and kissing the young girl (now 14 years old). This video was used as evidence in the arrest that was made. However, many people have observed that there is a failure of protective motherhood in what happened. First was the observation that a child was repeatedly abused, and the mother did not notice it even at that young age. The second issue is that seven years later the mother thought the best way to gather evidence was to expose the poor daughter to her abuser again. Essentially the mother allowed the minor to be molested again in order to obtain the desired evidence. It is one thing if the camera system was set up for protection, but in this case the camera was set up so that they can catch the man in the act.
Can one say this mother has acted as a protective mother? At what cost should a woman play detective with the life of her own daughter? Can the joy or the satisfaction derived from catching this predator be compared to the emotional discomfort that this child was made to suffer in the hands of her abuser a second time? How come a visitor can sexually molest your seven-year-old child when the man does not reside in your home? I believe her intention was to protect her child because every woman has this instinct, but did her action bear this out? Mothers are a natural when it comes to protecting their children, but not every mother out there exhibits this trait. How about you? Are you a protective mother? As we celebrate Mothers’ Day, I pray that you will not only be a protective mother, but you will also, indeed, be the kind of complete mother that the Lord wants you to be, a loyal, honorable, loving, and protective mother. Happy Mothers’ Day!
May 9, 2021 – Pastor Simbo Odunaiya
