Hannah made this vow: “O LORD of hosts, if only you will… give to your servant a male child, then I will set him before you as a Nazirite until the day of his death. He shall drink neither wine nor intoxicants, and no razor shall touch his head.” 1 Samuel 1:11, NRSV.
Samuel was born to a mother of great faith. She was the childless but favored wife of Elkanah who agonized that she had been heretofore unable to bear her husband a male heir. But, never giving up on prayer, God answered her with a son.
Hannah was not unlike mothers today who work two jobs, make sacrifices for the good of their children, and unceasingly guide and otherwise help their children to see a better future for themselves. Hannah began thinking about Samuel’s future even before Samuel was born. To God she promised that he would be reared to serve God all his life. And he did.
Hannah reminds me of the influence of people to shape lives – teachers, parents, neighbors, uncles and aunts, even the janitor at school. Influence comes packaged in lots of ways.
A child who is blessed with people who can envision a God-focused future for her/him, is a blessed child. People who know that life is more than education, achievement, status, and such and who realize that the material world is best understood as resources for a larger mission. Which is why Hannah promised her son to God, for God’s service.
Preparation is not the sole domain of the individual. Think of Mary and Joseph and the role they played in Jesus’ life. Or the teachers in the Temple. Or other nameless people who taught, shared, invited, and showed an interest in the Child’s development and future.
What if parents today saw their young children, not as fulfillment machines or possessions or inconveniences but as potentialities. Little humans born with divine instructions, “Raise this child with his/her future in mind, not yours.”
What a world that would be!
Prayer: O God, help us to be like Hannah or Mary or Elizabeth, all of whom received children into their lives, understanding that as parents their principle task was to help prepare their little gifts for the future of God. In your name. Amen.