Hannah was a woman who desperately wanted to celebrate Mother’s day. Her rival, Peninah (her husband’s other wife) would hassle her so much, ridicule her for having a closed womb, That it would drive Hannah to tears every time they went to worship and give their tithe. The priest, Eli, saw her at the temple and tried throwing her out because he thought she was drunk. “Not so, I am a woman deeply troubled…I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.” So Eli tells her to go in peace and may the Lord grant what she asks.

So “in the course of time” (translation-not our time but God’s) Hannah conceived and gave birth. Oh happy day!

But then Hannah does something I find extraordinary. She brings him to the temple to be raised by the priests. “I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord.” Now that takes faith. Hannah’s child was Samuel who became a great prophet and last judge whom God spoke to and through.

In this day and age with procedures and pills and adoption and surrogates, have we forgotten about the power of God? Do we think the power of God needs help, that we on Earth can do a better job than He?

Our children do not belong to us. They belong to God; we are only stewards of his family. May we learn and continue to be good stewards of all He has given us.