Over the years, I have been blessed to have met and known some amazing moms.  I have also met some less-than-amazing moms.  This shouldn’t be a shock, as you will find people who are better and worse, for lack of a kinder term, in pretty much any endeavor.  Being a great mom is not automatic.  Some of it should be learned before a woman ever becomes a mom, but some of it is just on-the-job training/learning.

Patience

Great moms have patience(I Sam. 25:32-35 – Abigail may not be a mom, but she showed great patience and wisdom).  Since I have no patience of my own, I can only sit back in amazement when I watch great moms deal with situations that would cause me to just lose it.  I sometimes even shake my head and smile, knowing that I could not have done what that mom just did, or didn’t do.  I have seen some moms who, I’m pretty sure, would never crack under the greatest of pressure.  They just somehow seem to roll with it, or understand that they will eventually get to the other side of whatever is going on.  And for that, I salute them.

Instruction

Great moms are great teachers(Prov. 31:26).  I’m not suggesting that they know and understand physics and calculus, etc.  But rather, they are good at the subtle art of teaching young minds.  When teaching a child, especially a small child, you have to explain it differently than you would to an adult.  Great moms know that, and they can do it.  Well done, moms!

Character

Great moms also teach more than just the facts - they teach character(Tit. 2:4).  They teach and exemplify in their own lives the character that all of us should have, but so many seldom do.  They also help to instill those positive character traits in their children.

Appreciation

The children of great moms, eventually, understand how blessed they are to have had such great moms.  Sometimes this takes decades, for the children, but eventually they get there.  They see what other moms are like out in the world and they finally have a better understanding and appreciation of just how blessed they were to have the mom they have(Prov. 31:28).  This will cause daughters to want to be “just like mom(Ruth 2 – Naomi was Ruth’s mother-in-law).”  This will cause sons to look for a woman “just like mom(Prov. 31),” because they want their kids to have the same blessings they had as a child of a great mom.

Mistakes

Every mom will make them.  Every person will make them.  But good moms will learn from their mistakes.  All moms, even great moms, are human beings.  This is not to excuse mistakes, but rather to understand that people are fallible.  Great moms are patient, and sometimes we need to be patient with them.

A Work In Progress

Great moms are works in progress, just like the rest of us.  Some take longer to blossom, some are quicker at it.  The rest of us need to help cultivate the “great mom” in all the moms out there.