Finally, the children called her to come downstairs. She found them both sitting at the table eating bacon and eggs. "As a surprise for Mother's Day," one explained, "we decided to cook our own breakfast."

I don't know what you're planning for Mother's Day, but I do hope you're planning to do something special to honor her.

Abraham Lincoln once said, "All that I am, or can be, I owe to my angel mother." John Gray said, "The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world." Napoleon Bonaparte said, "Let France have good mothers, and she will have good sons." And how about this Spanish proverb — "An ounce of mother is worth a pound of clergy."

Nobody gets the same chance to mold human minds and nurture human bodies and emotions like a mother does

All of those quotations have one thing in common — they all emphasize the fact that mothers have such a powerful influence, not only over their children, but over the very course of history.

I don't think that's an exaggeration. Nobody — not teachers, not preachers, not psychologists — gets the same chance to mold human minds and nurture human bodies and emotions like a mother does. The results of competent mothering can truly be seen for generations.

Her children rise up and call her blessed; Her husband also, and he praises her. (Proverbs 31:28)

Alan Smith ministers with the Church of Christ in White House, Tennessee and publishes the email devotional "Thought for the Day."

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