The article spoke of a favorite Biblical illustration of mine about a mother (found in the second chapter of Exodus). Jochebed, one of the Israelites (who were at the time brutally enslaved by the Egyptians), gave birth to a son. In an attempt to reduce the power of the growing Israelite population, the Pharaoh had ordered ALL male Israelite babies to be killed.
I thought of this dear mother, and her many sleepless nights. Did she stay up thinking 'what if' all night? During pregnancy, did she wonder if she was carrying a boy? Had she hoped something would change –the law, the slavery, anything? Did she cry? After the birth, knowing it was a boy, did she cling to him as if every breath were his last? Did she have nightmares of the Pharaoh’s soldiers coming? Did she hear phantom horses’ hooves of the chariots? When did she “plan?”
We know she did plan and we're given a glimpse of it in Exodus 2:2-3: “...and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months. But when she could hide him no longer, she took for him an ark of bulrushes and daubed it with slime and with pitch." Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile.”
I don’t know if she was “up all night” planning, but I do know that she took a basket, made it waterproof and put her precious little bundle inside. Then, she set it in the reeds along the bank of the Nile River, crocodiles and Pharaohs and all...and she "Let Go."
I guess the fact is that it wasn’t “her” precious bundle. It was God’s all along.
This story has played in my mind countless times since re-reading it in the Bible. I have amazing children so i don't worry about the good they can do "out there," but i worry about "others" wanting to harm them, whether it be emotionally, physically, &/or spiritually.
As i go thru this personal passage in my own life, my hope is to encourage other mothers (in a spirit of confidence & love) who may be 'up all night' wondering if they've planned well. “You have selected the basket & you've waterproofed it. You may not ‘deserve’ the treatment anymore than Jochebed deserved to be an abused slave, or to lose her son, but Heavenly Father does have a plan."
Of course, you know the rest of the story, right? The place where Jochebed selected to leave the basket was where the Pharaoh’s daughter bathed. When she found the baby, she named him Moses.
So how do I deal with these sleepless nights? I wish it were as easily done as said. Trusting that God has helped me plan & prepare & then...............Letting go of the basket.
Let Go... He’s got the basket in His hands.
Here's a great conference talk given by Robert D. Hales: With All the Feeling of a Tender Parent
Love, Michelle
1 comment:
You have GOT to make your blog public. That was an exceptional piece you wrote Michelle. It brought tears to my eyes. I loved it. Thank you for your testimony and insight.
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