Before the Civil War started, the territory that was to become West Virginia was part of Virginia (a Confederate state.) By the time the war ended, West Virginia had become its own state and was part of the Union. Thus, the soldiers who returned home to West Virginia at the end of the war were from both sides, and there was great tension.
Anna Jarvis, who lost four of her children in the Civil War, organized a Mother’s Friendship Day in Prunytown, West Virginia, to bring peacefully together soldiers and neighbors of all political beliefs. It was a success.
A strong supporter of establishing a national Mother’s Day for peace was Julia Ward How, who had written the words to the ”Battle Hymn of the Republic.
She learned of Mrs. Jarvis’ efforts and worked to get formal recognition of a national Mother’s Day for Peace. She had seen up close the results of the war her song had glorified – maimed soldiers, disease, widows, orphans – and she was determined that women would join together to celebrate a day dedicated to the end of all war. She was unsuccessful, and died in 1910.
In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson signed a resolution designating May 8 as the first Mother’s Day. It made no reference to the theme of peace.
In the ninth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, Peter, who until now has been in Jerusalem, begins to travel outside the Holy City, bringing the Good News to others.
He goes to the city of Lydda, about 25 miles northwest of Jerusalem. Here is how Luke describes it:
As Peter was passing through every region, he went down to the holy ones living in Lydda. There he found a man name Aeneas, who had been confined to bed for eight years, for he was paralyzed. Peter said to him, Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and make your bed.” He got up at once. And all the inhabitants of Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they were converted to the Lord. (Acts 9:32-35)
Not to overlook the significance of this miracles (the poor fellow had been in bed paralyzed for eight years)…but there’s something about those words of Peter after the cure: “Get up and make your bed.” (What Peter wanted, of course, was for the man to show that he had really been cured.)
Parents have spoken those words to youngsters hundreds of times. Now they can do it, knowing they’re quoting Scripture: “Get up and make your bed.”
Then, of course, after Peter says this, note the man’s response: “He got up at once.”
Now, in many homes, that would be the miracle.