A.B. White said, “If the time should ever come when women are not Christians and houses are not homes, then we shall have lost the chief cornerstones upon which civilization rests.”

Bovee reminds us that the finest compliment that can be paid to a woman of sense is to address her as such. “Next to God, we are indebted to the women of the world, who gave us life, and then for making it worth living.”

William L. Stinger wrote this about mothers. “Blessed are the mothers of the earth, for they have combined the practical and the spiritual into the workable way of human life. They have darned little stockings, mended little dresses, washed little faces, and have pointed little eyes to the stars, and little souls to eternal things.”

Matthew Henry Gentle reminded us that woman was taken out of man; not out of his head, to rule over him; not out of his feet, to be trampled under by him, but out of his side, to be equal to him, under his arm, that he might protect her, and near his heart that he might love her.

It matters not how long you live or how much money you make, or what you do for your mother, you will always be indebted to her. The truth is that most of us would either be dead or in jail without mother’s love. There is no love in the world to equal the love of God and the love of a mother. It has been said, “If you would reform the world from its errors and vices, you would begin by enlisting the mothers of the world.”

Lincoln said, “All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.” I can say the same thing, but I would also need to add my princess, Arah Jane Lingerfelt, and my mother, Neba McCool, along with my father Vince. Thank God, one day I will see them all.

No man on earth is poor if he had a godly mother. Even Jesus, who died for us upon the cruel cross, in his last hour upon the earth, in the unutterable agony of death, was mindful of his mother, as if to teach us that this holy love should be our last worldly thought; the last point of earth from which the soul should take its flight for heaven.

It was Ann and Jane Taylor who wrote, “For God, who lives above the skies, would look with vengeance in his eyes, if I should ever dare despise my mother.”

Ruskin said, “My mother’s influence in molding my character was conspicuous. She forced me to learn daily long chapters of the Bible by heart. To that discipline and patient, accurate resolve I owe not only much of my general power of taking pains, but the best part of my taste for literature.”

You will always be indebted to your mother. Riney said, “The mother love is like God’s love; He loves us not because we are lovable, but because it is his nature to love, and because we are his children.”

Don’t let Mother’s Day go by without calling your mother and telling her you love her. You will never regret it.

Robert V. Ozment is a retired United Methodist minister.