For a number of weeks, many ads have promoted the celebration of Mother’s Day.  Of course, behind these promotions is the idea that mothers should be honored by buying or giving them a special gift.  Obviously, there are many other ways to honor motherhood and mothers, including the giving of quality time and sharing in conversations.  There is no doubt that most mothers deserve to be honored by their children, especially when we realize how much they love and sacrifice for their children and families.

        “Words from Above” tell us in the Bible about a mother who is very well-known, but whose name is rarely mentioned.  She was living in a foreign country whose king became concerned that her people, the Hebrew people, might begin to outnumber and possibly overtake his own people, the people of Egypt.  The king came up with a plan to make the Hebrew people slaves in his country, and passed a law that Hebrew midwives had to kill all Hebrew baby boys when they were born.  When the king discovered that the midwives did not listen, he then passed another law that said that every Hebrew boy that was born was to thrown into the Nile River.  He knew that they would either drown or be eaten by the crocodiles who inhabited the Nile River.

But one Hebrew mother defied the order of the king by hiding her son for three months, and when she realized she could no longer hide him, she prepared a basket and sealed it to make it water proof.  She then placed her son in the basket and placed it along the banks of the river, and had her daughter Miriam watch the boy, whose name we know as Moses.  Soon afterward, the daughter of the king came to the river and saw the basket, and asked her servants to retrieve it from the river.  The baby was crying and the daughter of the king felt sorry for him, when suddenly Miriam appeared and volunteered to find a Hebrew mother to nurse the child. 

Miriam then returned with the baby’s very own mother, whose name was Jochebed, and the daughter of the king actually paid Jochebed to nurse and raise the baby until he was weaned.  The king’s daughter then adopted baby Moses as her own child, and his life was saved.   We all know that Moses went on to be asked by God to deliver the Hebrew people from slavery in Egypt, and to lead them to the Promised Land, which God had originally promised to Abraham and his descendants.   Whether we are a mother or not, sacrificing for others is a great quality.

Larry R. Steffee is pastor of the Center Hill Brethren In Christ Church on Miller Road in Smithville.  Everyone is welcome to attend.  For informa-tion, you may email lrsteffeetn@yahoo.com.