My children are grown now and you would think those restless nights would be a thing of the past. Am I still a mother with breath in her lungs? I have thrown aside many of the cares that plagued me long ago, but once in a while those long nights come back home to roost. Moms seek to fix bobos, give guidance, and help out - no matter the ages of their children.
Okay, on with my mom tale...
I woke early last Sunday, having had little sleep the night before. Too tired to get up, I decided to read my lesson one more time. My passage was 1 Kings 2 - 3:14...but I kept reading.
King Solomon was a very wise king, simply because he desired wisdom over riches. So, God gave him not only the wisdom he had asked for, but also much wealth, power, and victory over his enemies.
He also gave him discernment to judge between good and evil, right and wrong, as we see in the following story.
1 Kings 3:16 Then two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him. 17 The one woman said, "Oh, my lord, this woman and I live in the same house, and I gave birth to a child while she was in the house. 18 Then on the third day after I gave birth, this woman also gave birth. And we were alone. There was no one else with us in the house; only we two were in the house. 19 And this woman's son died in the night, because she lay on him. 20 And she arose at midnight and took my son from beside me, while your servant slept, and laid him at her breast, and laid her dead son at my breast. 21 When I rose in the morning to nurse my child, behold, he was dead. But when I looked at him closely in the morning, behold, he was not the child that I had borne." 22 But the other woman said, "No, the living child is mine, and the dead child is yours." The first said, "No, the dead child is yours, and the living child is mine." Thus they spoke before the king. 23 Then the king said, "The one says, 'This is my son that is alive, and your son is dead'; and the other says, 'No; but your son is dead, and my son is the living one.'" 24 And the king said, "Bring me a sword." So a sword was brought before the king. 25 And the king said, "Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one and half to the other." 26 Then the woman whose son was alive said to the king, because her heart yearned for her son, "Oh, my lord, give her the living child, and by no means put him to death." But the other said, "He shall be neither mine nor yours; divide him." 27 Then the king answered and said, "Give the living child to the first woman, and by no means put him to death; she is his mother." 28 And all Israel heard of the judgment that the king had rendered, and they stood in awe of the king, because they perceived that the wisdom of God was in him to do justice.
Oh, the boys and girls will love this one...especially the boys.
Then it struck me hard. I am a third mother in this tale. My children are grown now. No one is trying to steal them from me. My ownership is of little value at this point, because I gave them away long ago. (Something I have had to do again and again.) They are the Lord's and He will not draw His sword and split them with me as those who share a burger at lunch. He doesn't want only part of what I own or think I own. He wants all of it. If I want my kids to 'live' as the true mother in this scripture, then I must surrender. I want them to really live. So I let go.
Scripture teaches us about who we are, right where we are...when we are not even looking for it. I thought I had found an old story that would fascinate my class, but what I really found was the moral of my own story. It's all relative...I mean relevant...or both.
By the way, my Sunday School class loved the story. Wisdom, obedience, riches, and victory make for a nice tale, but when I added in a squabble in the courtroom, it was icing on the cake.
And all Israel heard of the judgment that the king had rendered, and they stood in awe of the king, because they perceived that the wisdom of God was in him to do justice.
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