“Mom! Do you know where my cleats are? I can’t find them anywhere,” yelled my oldest son, Caden, from the top of the stairs.

“Mom! Please tell me you washed my Vineyard Vines T-shirt. I have nothing to wear,” said Connor in desperation as he tried to get his hair just right.

“Mom! I spilled my cereal all over my clothes! Can somebody help me?” shouted my 4-year-old son, Corder.

“Leisa! Have you seen my keys?” I yelled as I frantically looked in the same spot over and over.

“Yes … Yes … Yes … Yes!” my wife, Leisa, cried out.

If you want to get to know my wife, read Proverbs 31. Her work never ends. She is an educator, a personal tutor, a baseball mom, a child advocate, a gourmet chef, a nurse, a therapist and a prayer warrior.

And most of that happens in the first few hours of the day. She bears the burden of her children’s anxieties, the struggles of her family and friends, and the cries of those less fortunate. Above all, she is the personal disciple-maker of three children and a support to a man in ministry whose work takes him away from home more than he would like to be.

These overworked and underappreciated moms are all over your community. They are the primary influencers in the lives of our next generation.

If there is any question about the importance and influence that moms have on society, just take a look at Jesus’ mom. Only Mary knew what was to come when she turned to the servants before Jesus performed his first miracle and said, “Do whatever he tells you.” One of Jesus’ final seven statements from the cross was to make sure his mother was taken care of.

These moms are not only inside your church, but they are outside your walls as well. Some of them are single and carrying the load all by themselves. These single moms are sometimes working two jobs to make ends meet and have no one to share their burdens as they do their best to raise their children.

A rose from your church is nice on Mother’s Day, but how else are you serving moms? Maybe you are a grandmother and need to mentor a younger mom in the community who is just getting started. Some churches have a regular mother’s night out for young moms to take a break. You may decide to have a day of pampering for single moms in a local housing project. What if every deacon in your church was assigned a handful of widows to check on occasionally?

I thank God for my hard-working and loving wife — who happens to be stunningly beautiful — because, in the words of my son Connor, “If something happened to Mama, we would be in big trouble.”