10 May 2026 - Peter van Breda - Mother's Day

So let us be gentle. In closing, let us be gentle with each other today. Let's celebrate with the women who have happy families, but let's also remember the woman, the men, the girls, the boys who've been hurt by their mothers. Let's remember the mothers who've lost their children. Let's remember the women who long to be wives and mothers but aren't. And let's come together and worship Jesus alone. Not the idealized images of our mothers or ourselves. Let us just be normal with each other and be normal with our mothers. [01:30:17] (39 seconds)  #GentleWithMothers

Jesus didn't promise his disciples that they would be happy, that they would have good relationships with their mothers or be parents. In fact, he said they would experience sadness and longing in life even in their relationships with him when he no longer was with them. And so motherhood must not be the resting place for a woman's hopes for wholeness. Like Jesus' disciples, we are called to love one another. It's his love that will make us whole. [01:00:53] (33 seconds)  #WholenessInChrist

Remember, you are making an investment in their lives that will reap huge dividends for generations to come. Why? Because when God wants to do something great in the world, he doesn't send in an earthquake. He doesn't stir up a tornado or wrap a volcano. He sends in a child. Before he sends in a child, he finds a mom for that child. When God needed a Moses to take his people out of Egypt, he found a slave girl by the banks of the Nile by the name of Jacobet to be his mother. [01:24:10] (39 seconds)  #MomsShapeDestiny

So my plea is, my plea this morning is be gentle with all women this Mother's Day because you don't know what they've been through. You don't know what they are going through right now. My plea is, as I said, be gentle with all women today. Let's celebrate with the women who have happy families, but let's also remember the mothers who have been hurt. [01:01:25] (25 seconds)  #RememberAllMothers

You know, the leading cause of regret in most people's lives when they get to the end of their lives, do you know what it is? It's a failure to seize the day. A failure to be aware of the ordinary wonderful moments that fill our day. We're always looking across the horizon or towards the horizon to their bigger car, their bigger house, the better job, etcetera, etcetera. What's happening in our country and we go on and on and on. [01:19:51] (27 seconds)  #SeizeTheOrdinary

You go nowhere by accident. Wherever you go, God, is sending you there. Wherever you are, God has put you there. There's a purpose in you being there. Christ indwells you as something he wants to do through you wherever you are. The holy spirit who guides and leads you will show you things to come. Be open to his leading today. Believe this and go in his grace and love and power. [01:35:03] (40 seconds)  #SentWithPurpose

Just say, thus far and no further. Even if your children are grown up, even if your grandchildren are grown up, put a period behind it and says this far and no further. This generational sin will go no further than this today. And after we move from forgiveness, we take the responsibility on of saying this is where an area I need to grow in. So we need to be creative and practical through each season of our lives and how we connect with God's presence. [01:14:50] (35 seconds)  #BreakTheChain

I'm not saying you need to write a letter and then send it to your father or your mother. I don't know if that achieves anything at all. It probably doesn't. But at least you're going before God with something concrete and you say, Lord, this is why I face what I face and I ask you to heal me. So you need to ask forgiveness. If you too were involved in the generational sin, look for the patterns in your parents' lives and be honest about your own involvement, stop the blame game. [01:14:08] (39 seconds)  #ForgiveToHeal