Today, we celebrate

mothers!

Moms are the best at

establishing good habits and keeping us from bad ones.

To this very day, I

have my own mother to thank for driving into my life good habits like

remembering to wash my hands after I use the restroom and for driving out bad

habits from my life.  If it wasn’t for

her, I’d be picking my nose far more often than I do right now.

Today, we express

our gratitude toward mothers as we continue our message series entitled,

“Habits.” 

Through this message

series, we’re learning about how to do small things consistently, which

ultimately leads to a life of integrity.

Small habits lead to

big change!

Proverbs 11:3

The integrity of the

upright guides them,

    but the unfaithful are destroyed by their

duplicity.

Godly integrity does

not make life fair.  It does, however,

guide us onto God’s path for our lives.

Last week, we

learned about a difficult season in David’s life before he became king where

his integrity was put to the test. 

Throughout his struggles, he was found often asking the question,

“What have I done wrong?”

In several

instances, David really did nothing wrong. 

However, there was a time when David lacked integrity and he had done

some very nasty things.

In any case, God

forgave David when he eventually broke down in his loneliness and chose to seek

after God.  God quickly put him back in

the right path for his life and restored all that was lost.

Godly integrity does

not make life fair.  It does, however,

guide us onto God’s path for our lives.

As a result, last

week, we were reminded to make it a habit to seek God.  We were challenged to stay in continuous

communication with God in the little as well as the big things; sharing with

Him what’s on our minds and listening to what is on His.  Throughout our hectic days and the challenges

that life throws our way, it’s good to have such a best friend to be right

there with us and for us.

As mothers, you may

have also find yourself asking that question of David often, “What have I

done wrong?”

Maybe you’ve done

something absolutely horrific like brush your daughter’s hair.

Maybe you’ve been an

absolute monster and said “No.” to letting your son go to that party.

Maybe you reveled in

the torture of waking up your teenager in time to catch the bus.

Maybe you’ve really

hit rock bottom and required your toddler to take a bath.

Tantrums, meltdowns,

fits; and all because you loved your child enough to care for them.

What have you done

wrong?

An all seriousness,

though.  Like David, sometimes you know

you made some poor choices, but other times you genuinely have no idea what

went wrong or how to make it right.

This morning, we’re

learning about making a habit of reconciliation.

Now as a mother, you

already have plenty of experience being the family referee and trying hard to

be a peacemaker trying to keep everyone getting along and staying on speaking

terms.  Whether your children are 3, 33,

or, 53, you probably still find yourself in this role from time-to-time.

Perhaps this morning

is a difficult day knowing the painful reality that your children are divided

among themselves or perhaps they’ve even cut themselves off from you.  If that is you this morning, Jesus is here

today (and will be with you always) ready to heal your hurt, forgive all

wrongs, and to give you wisdom in reconciling broken relationships.

If you are here

together with your kiddos and you are simply overwhelmed by the blessing of a

whole and healthy family, we’ll praise God for that and learn how to continue

in it.

We look again to

that in-between season of David’s life. 

He had gone from incredible success and fame to being a nobody

surrounded by the least likely of friends who were distressed, in debt, and

discontent. 

Perhaps that sounds

a bit like a description of your family right now.  If so, that’s OK, that family-like group of

individuals became a unified and unstoppable