Illustration: Mothers Day

Leonard Sweet shares this story: Best-selling author Robert Fulghum is well-known for his "all-I-really-need-to-know-I-learned-in-kindergarten" books. Less well known is the fact that he spent many years in the pulpit in Washington state. He writes about his preaching days and his fear of Mother's Day in his book It Was on Fire When I Lay Down On It:

"For 25 years of my life, the second Sunday of May was trouble...I was obliged in some way to address the subject of Mother's Day. It could not be avoided...The congregation was quite open-minded and gave me free reign in the pulpit. But when it came to the second Sunday in May, the expectation was summarized in the words of one of the more outspoken women in the church: 'I'm bringing my mother to church on Mother's Day, Reverend, and you can talk about anything you want, but it had better include MOTHER, and it had better be good!'"
(from eSermons newsletter)