Gwendolyn Webb, in her book, Training Up A Child (pp.217f) writes about an elderly Mother who spent the major part of her life rearing five sons. She had hoped her sons would have devoted their lives to ministering God’s Word. To that Mother’s disappointment, not one of her sons became a preacher. Instead, all five of her sons, in varied capacities, went to sea.

Here is the amazing thing. While that Mother had a guest in her house, she was reviewing the thoughts just given with her friend. Later, during that visit, the guest observed the numerous water scenes this elderly lady had hanging on her walls. These graphic water scenes had captured the thoughts of this elderly Mother’s sons, and each son had adopted a life style related to the sea!

In anther incident, it was observed how two sons, growing up in the same house, under the same mother and father, had taken two strikingly different courses in life. One son became a missionary to native people in Africa. The other son pursued a life style of crime, incarceration, and finally, prison!

One who did some research, discovered that both boys were avid readers. One read the book in the home library about people who became honored and heroes due to missionary service in the Congo. The other boy read a series of books that traced the wild life of “The Blue Ridge Mountain Gang!”

On this day—not just Mother’s Day—it might be important for each Mother to ask the sobering and significant questions: “What Do My Children See?” Of that worthy woman in Proverbs 31, it states: “She opens her mouth in wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. She looks well to the ways of her household… Her children rise up and bless her” (vv.26-28, emphasis mine-dk). It is also true that “Bad company corrupts good morals” (I Cor. 15:33).

How are these factors playing out over at your house?