Some folks cringe when Mother’s Day comes around. For them, “Mom” conjures up images of irresponsibility, insecurity, abuse and neglect. “Mom” might have played a biological role, but she had no warmth and no nurturing instinct. For these folks, Mother’s Day is a painful reminder of what they’ve missed, and they’d just as soon never remember, thank you! One friend often skips the Mother’s Day service at her church. If I’d had her mother, I might skip, too.

Others, of course, believe they won the “Mom” lottery. Mom was a constant force for good in their lives, teacher of spiritual truth, taxi driver and cheerleader and baker of warm cookies after school. These folks could happily celebrate Mother’s Day every month because they recognize what an awesome foundation their mother provided.

A good mom makes all the difference!

Philadelphia Phillies Shortstop Trea Turner recognizes the contribution his mother made to his athletic career. Turner says, “She was the hardest on me. She was always perfect as a kid and no one can ever talk crap to her because she was always perfect. She’s good at board games. She’s competitive and she’s smart, so she was the one that kind of [pushed] me as a kid. I think that helped me a lot because I try to do everything perfect now, in practice and whatever it is and I get mad at myself when I don’t execute or don’t do what I want to, so I think that mentality came from her. And I think that’s probably helped me the most.”

George Washington’s father died when he was only 11, but Mary Ball Washington poured her values into her son, reading to him from the Bible and Sir Matthew Hale’s Contemplations Moral and Divine. George Washington later wrote: “All that I am I owe to my mother. I attribute all my success in life to the moral, intellectual, and physical education I received from her.” Washington wasn’t the only great American to credit his mother for his success. Abraham Lincoln said, “I remember my mother’s prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life.”

Henry Heinz made his fortune building a food empire with 57 Varieties, but he wrote this in his will: “Looking forward to the time when my earthly career will end, I desire to set forth at the very beginning of this will, as the most important item in it, a confession of my faith in Jesus Christ as my Savior. I also desire to bear witness to the fact that throughout my life, in which there were unusual joys and sorrows, I have been wonderfully sustained by my faith in God through Jesus Christ. This legacy was left me by my consecrated mother, a woman of strong faith, and to it I attribute any success I have attained.” A good mom makes all the difference!

In the Bible, Timothy had a great Mom. In 2 Timothy 1:5 (NIV), the Apostle Paul alludes to the role Timothy’s Mom and Grandmother played in his spiritual development: “I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.” Though Eunice was a Jewish woman married to a Gentile man, she didn’t let the household’s religious differences keep her from instilling a strong faith in her son. In 2 Tim. 3:14-15 Paul references Eunice’s effort: “But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” When Paul “adopted” Timothy as his “son in the faith,” Paul knew he was gaining a coworker with a solid Scriptural foundation because of his family background. Paul honored the role Eunice and Lois played in Timothy’s life and their contribution is memorialized in Scripture for all time.

G. Campbell Morgan, a famous British preacher, had 4 sons, each of them following their father’s footsteps into ministry. But when asked to name the greatest preacher in the family, one of the boys said, “Why, it’s Mom!”

Mom, your legacy is not what you leave for your kids, it’s what you leave in your kids. Of all that you might give them, a foundation of faith has eternal significance.