Moms, thanks for your loyalty

Where is loyalty in the world?

Are college athletes loyal to their universities? The transfer portal makes it easy to jump ship when things don’t go good. Are businesses loyal to employees? It seems many times greed is greater than loyalty. Are we loyal to our employers? The average employee changes jobs 4+ times in a career. My dad worked for one company over 40 years. Marriage? The divorce rate is > 50%. Are we loyal to our friends? Social media has hurt this one. Are we loyal to church? our country?

Thank you, mothers, for the picture of loyalty we get through you. It is needed and cherished.

In a world where the quality is hard to find, a mom gives us the perfect illustration through her loyalty to her children. A mom is loyal to the end.

There is a great picture of loyalty in the story of Ruth in the Bible.

Because of a famine, Naomi and her husband, with their two sons, move from Bethlehem to Moab. When arriving, her two sons marry. Within 10 years, however, Naomi’s husband dies, her two sons die, and she is left with her daughters-in-law.

Hopeless, she decides to return back to Bethlehem. One daughter-in-law decides to stay in Moab.

But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.” Ruth 1:16, 17

Ruth clings to her mother-in-law, Naomi. Naomi is returning to Bethlehem in an incredibly hopeless situation, the future is not bright. But Ruth’s loyalty is greater than the situation. Whatever the future was to hold, Ruth chose loyalty. Nothing else mattered. She was in, forever. What an incredible picture of loyalty in the most hopeless situation.

The remainder of the book of Ruth, shows how God worked through Boaz to care for Naomi and Ruth. God is the One orchestrating events to bless Ruth. Ruth commits her life to following God, and He protects her. The blessings came from the loyalty shown by Ruth.

The story of Ruth struck me this morning on Mother’s Day. This picture of loyalty is strong and needed today. And, there is no other relationship that gives us the picture of loyalty today than a mother to her children. The loyalty of Ruth IS the loyalty that mothers have for their children. Forever. Period. No matter the circumstances.

I see this played out every day in my family, as there is nothing that can come between my wife and our kids. She is forever loyal, has their back through thick and thin. She is their top defender and their number one fan. Her love is naturally lived through loyalty.

I see this played out with stories I hear from moms all around me. Ask a mother how she is doing, and she immediately will talk about her kids. They are her pride and joy. When they are good, she is good. When they are not good, she is not good. Moms are loyal to the end.

So, to all Moms, Happy Happy Mother’s day!

Thank you for the picture of loyalty you give to a world that desperately needs it. And, know that your kids, your husbands, the world applauds you.

Impact others. Live generously.

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