By Boma Nwuke
Mothering Sunday also called Mother’s day is an annual celebration which takes place on the fourth Sunday of Lent.
Traditionally, female children who worked outside their communites were given this day off to visit their mothers and reunite with other family members.
Every year, the church celebrates Mother’s day with activities and sermon drawn from Bible chapters and verses describing womanhood and motherhood.
Two Bishops of the Church of Nigeria Anglican Communion have let out what to look forward in a mother.
The Bishop of Okrika Diocese,Rt Rev Enoch Atuboyedia drew his teaching from Prov 31 ,10-31 which he titled “Excelling in Goodness”.
In that chapter, Rev Enoch highlighted the qualities of an examplary woman( virtuous woman) as excelling all women in her worth which is more than rubies, as one who is industrious, smart, God fearing and have the trust of her husband hence” Many daughters have done well. But you have excelled them all.”
He therefore prayed for blessing upon all women and mothers in nations across the world, and asked God to give them grace to persevere for peace, security and stability of their homes and society.
The Bishop of Etche Diocese,Rev. Okechukwu Nwala took his text from Mathew 1 18-25 dwelling on the birth of Jesus, the annunciation to Joseph, chastity and purity of Mary the mother of Jesus.
Bishop Nwala’s sermon was taken from the Daily Devotional – a prayer guide book of the Anglican Communion on Mothering Sunday, entitled” Perfect Relationship”, characterised by chastity, love, respect for one another, not hasty in taking action.
Other attributes of a perfect relationship according to the text are Obedience to the word of God, self discipline, self control, kind heartedness and protection of each other’s dignity.
” If we desire to have perfect relationships at all levels, we have to imbibe these given qualities. If we do not, our relationships will continue to crack and to crash,” it said.
In other words, the success of any society rests on the shoulder, strength and capability of the woman .
The capable woman of King Solomon’s book, Proverbs, and the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus, in the new testament, Mathew, have things in common and essential for building a sane society.
In today’s world also, the virtous woman is an uncommon woman, scarce to find thus putting a question mark on who truly a virtous woman is.
Proverbs description of the virtuous woman encompasses all that is required for a woman to excel, making the space for virtuousness limited and exclusive preserve of few women.
The capable woman is the” Sweet mother”- in the lyrics of Nigerian- Cameroun born Highlife maestro, Prince Nico Mbargat , who would not sleep when her children were yet to sleep. The mother who is never tired of carrying out her responsibilities, She is the “Nneoma”, the” Ezinne”
that is distinguished, She is the” Ibiyengibo”, She is the On’nyi Oozoza, the Iyami mi da’da’, and the “Mama mai’ kao”.
She is not the mother who leaves her children to their fate, to indulge in the name of” huzzling, “do things that are abominable. She is not the woman who would not care what her children bring home without asking and rebuking them, take in those things to encourage them.
She is also not the type who would nag at home before her children and neighbors making her children to believe that it is a way of life, making her neighbours to spite her home.
Today, there are lots of criminal activities that are found to be upsetting and overwhelming in communites and the nation in general.
Terrorists activities by Boko Haram and Bandits or Herdsmen are daily occurrences having a negative but significant consequences on the Nigerian nation.
This is where the virtous woman, the home and society builder comes in to perfect her relationship with her husband, with her children and society.
By instilling her God- given abilities as one who is reliable and good in her children , and impacting same on others, evil and associated wrong doings and deviant behaviors would take a back stage.
It is not late for the woman and mothers, new and old and even the girls who will become mothers tommorow to reflect on what is and what ought to be the practice.
It is not too late for the man to help the woman realise her tasks of complementing him in the building of a virile society.
Religions must begin to look at the evils in the country and quickly do things that turn the table around for a virtuous society.
A woman whose value is above rubies mentally captures exceptional woman,a woman that is outstanding.
That is one area the women who have done well in areas that do not absolutely qualify them in proverb’s encapsulation of the virtuous woman should begin to explore.
It is never too late to do so.
It is important to celebrate the exceptional mother and those who aspire to be . Children, Husbands and society owe her a duty to continually appreciate her.
Happy Mother’s Day.
