Read
When she could hide him no longer, she took for him a basket made of bulrushes and daubed it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child in it and placed it among the reeds by the river bank.
Exodus 2:3
Reflect
All good mothers sacrifice for their children. All of them. Whether it’s time or money or even their lives, every good mother will set aside pieces of themselves so that their children can prosper.
Now, that may seem easy for me to say as a man, but it’s not just a biblical principal that I just pulled out of thin air. (Of course, it still is a biblical principal very visible in today’s passage. Or did we not notice Moses’s mother giving up her son to save his life? She floated him down the river to spare him from Pharaoh’s wrath, and then anonymously helped Pharaoh’s daughter raise him as her own. That’s a self-sacrificing mother.)
Even so, this principal has been confirmed by a lifetime of observation of mothers, good and bad, and particularly of my own mother, who I count as probably the greatest person I’ve ever known.
My mom was remarkable, both as a person and as a musician. Growing up, she got the lead in just about every production she ever auditioned for, from Annie Get Your Gun to Carousel to The Sound of Music to My Fair Lady. She also played piano beautifully and wrote countless songs. She was so good that people frequently encouraged her to take a shot at the big time in New York, Nashville or Los Angeles.
But Mom felt she had a different calling. She knew that if she pursued one or more of those directions, it would take a toll on the family. And as much as she wanted to publish music or act on a bigger stage, she mostly wanted to be a good mother and provide a healthy home for her husband and children. And that she did enthusiastically and with excellence.
Mom sowed a lifetime of love into her family, and it’s reaped an amazing harvest of children and grandchildren who love and worship the Lord. We’re not perfect, but we’re happy and blessed, and that’s mostly what she wanted for us.
Today, thank the Lord for your mother and for the sacrifices she has made for you. If you haven’t done so already, find a way to bless her and let her know just how much she means to you.
Reflection copyright © 2022 Doug DeBolt.
Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
