Introduction. What a wonderful time it is to honor our mothers and the mighty work that they do. There is not a single person here today that cannot credit their mother for their birth. Most of us have fond remembrances of our mothers. A pastor attending a seminar heard the following: "The best years of my life were spent in the arms of another man's wife!" The crowd was shocked! Then he continued "My mother!" The crowd laughed and he finished the rest of his speech which held everyone's attention. The young preacher liked the joke so much, the next Sunday being Mother's Day, he decided he would use it in his sermon. At the beginning of his sermon it came time to tell it so he said: "The best years of my life were spent in the arms of another man's wife!" There was an audible gasp that came from the entire audience. Smiling, he started to continue and realized that he had forgotten the punch line. He stood there for about ten seconds trying to decide what to do, during which time his wife, who was sitting in the second row began to weep out loud. Now even more frustrated that He couldn't remember the punch line, he decided to try again in hopes it would jog his memory. "The best years of my life were spent in the arms of another man's wife!"… still a blank. His wife passed out and fell with a thump into the aisle, and a deacon had started walking down the aisle toward him. Women were holding their chests and men were either praying or thanking God that he had finally put his foot in his mouth. Panicking, the preacher desperately tried again, "The best years... another man's wife" and then blurted out - "But for the life of me I can't remember who she was!" Since I could not remember during the baptism last Sunday that I was to baptize in the name of the “Father, Son and Holy Ghost,â€� I can certainly relate to the pastorâ€"s dilemma and will be careful not to use such statements. Our mothersâ€" did have a great influence on our lives and I think that I know why. Most of us have had mothers, whether our natural mothers or adoptive mothers, that had the love of Christ within them. As we continue our series on the 3:16 promises, Paul writes that Jesus will send His word to dwell within those that “put onâ€� His attitude. This morning I want us to look at three aspects of Jesusâ€" personality that we most often see in mothers and that we should be seeing in ourselves. The first attribute that motherâ€"s have and that we all need are tender mercies. These tender mercies include kindness, humility, meekness and patience. As I think back over my childhood I can certainly see those traits in my mother. My father was a wonderful provider and leader for our family; but, his expectations of us as children were not laced with kindness or meekness. He often lost patience with us as; particularly with me while working on the farm. But I could always count on mother to be kind…to help soften the blow of discipline needed by an errant child. Mothers seem to instinctively know when kindness is needed rather than firmness in order to mend the fragile sociological and psychological development of the child. They see the child for what they can become rather than being caught in the moment of what they have done. Rose Kennedy, Mother to John F. Kennedy once said, “Whenever I held my newborn babe in my arms, I used to think what I did and what I said to him would have an influence, not only on him, but on everyone he meets, not for a day, or a year, but for all time and for eternity. What a challenge, what a joy!â€� (Citation: Celebrating Mothers: A Book of Appreciation. Edited by Glorya Hale and Carol Kelly-Gangi. MetroBooks, 2002.) As the disciples of Christ, He implores us to be merciful and kind and patient with all of His children. As we minister to this community, these traits must be evident in all that we do. Another trait that we must have…and we see in mothers…is forgiveness. There is something about our love for our children and others that causes us to forgive over and over. This is very much like the Lord. In His model prayer we are told that each time we pray we are to forgive as we ask for forgiveness. Now, donâ€"t get me wrong, sometimes forgiveness comes after the punishment. A pastorâ€"s son and his mom had been to a shopping and the boy had not behaved himself. As they were driving home, he could sense her displeasure and said, “When we ask God to forgive us when we are bad. He does, doesnâ€"t he?â€� His mother replied, “Definitely, yes.â€� The boy continued cautiously, “And when he forgives us. He buries our sins in the deepest sea, doesnâ€"t he?â€� The mom replied, “Definitely, yes.â€� The boy was silent for a while and then said, “Iâ€"ve asked God to forgive me, but I bet when we get home, youâ€"re going fishing for those sins arenâ€"t you?â€� The mother replied, “Yes! Yes, I am!â€� But when the correcting has been done, the bad deeds are immediately forgotten. This same forgiveness is true evidence of the Lord ruling in our lives. As human beings we are not so inclined to be forgiving. In fact, our inclination is to avenge any wrong doing that has come our way. But we do that at great risk. John Iversonâ€" “The man who refuses to forgive destroys the bridge over which he himself must cross.â€� We must be forgiving if we are to expect forgiveness from our Savior. Join us Sunday for the rest of this message and the celebration of Motherâ€"s Day. We will also be dedicating to of our babies during the service.