Old Testament for December 26, 2021

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
1 Samuel 2:18-20, 26
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

It is important to understand the back story of our lectionary passage today.  We remember that Hannah had been infertile. When her husband Elkanah made his annual pilgrimage to Shiloh (the home of the ark of the covenant), she accompanied him there.  One year her prayers to the Lord for a child were so fervent that Eli, the high priest, had blessed her and said,

“Go in peace; the God of Israel grant the petition you have made to him” (1 Samuel 1:18).

Hannah did become pregnant and gave birth to Samuel.  What is most amazing is that she was so grateful for this blessing that after Samuel was weaned, she took him back to Shiloh and offered him up to serve in the house of the Lord:

“For this child I prayed; and the Lord has granted me the petition that I made to him. Therefore I have lent him to the Lord; as long as he lives, he is given to the Lord” (1 Samuel 1:27-28).

In this week’s lectionary reading, we see the growth and maturation of the child Samuel.  He wears a linen ephod in his service for the Lord, which was a type of ritual garment that the priestly caste wore.

And Hannah manages to stay in touch with her son as he grows up by visiting each year for the annual sacrifice, bringing with her a new linen ephod that presumably has been tailored to accommodate Samuel’s growth.

The yearly sacrifice to which this passage refers is likely the Day of Atonement.  This was a solemn fast day for all Israel; and the high priest offered a sacrifice to atone for the sins of all the people.

In our passage, as Elkanah and Hannah come to Shiloh, the high priest Eli annually blessed them and prayed for their fertility:

“May the Lord repay you with children by this woman for the gift that she made to the Lord” 

The priest’s prayers, and Hannah’s, were honored:

And the Lord took note of Hannah; she conceived and bore three sons and two daughters (1 Samuel 2:21). 

Samuel’s growth and development from a child into a man of God now will take center stage:

Now the boy Samuel continued to grow both in stature and in favor with the Lord and with the people.

This sets the stage for the events that will end the priesthood of Eli and his corrupt sons, and catapult Samuel into prominence as one of the preeminent judges and prophets in the Old Testament.

APPLY:  

Parenting is an exquisitely painful and joyful experience.  The moment our children are born, we begin to let go of them.  As they mature, they begin to grow away from us as they make their own decisions.

This is as it should be.  The purpose of parents is to eventually become obsolete as the governing force in our children’s lives.  Every emotionally healthy parent’s goal is to provide opportunities for their children to mature into emotionally healthy adults.

Hannah has done this far earlier than any of us might be willing to do.  When Samuel is weaned, perhaps sometime between 18 months and five years, she turns him over to Eli to be raised in the house of the Lord.

In a sense, that is where Christian parenting should begin.  When our children are born, we begin by turning our children over to God.  As parents, our job is not to shape these little ones into our own image, but to act as God’s proxies with our kids.

As with Samuel, our responsibility is to create the conditions so that our children may:

grow both in stature and in favor with the Lord and with the people.

RESPOND: 

There is great relief in following Hannah’s example — but I don’t mean that we should take our kids down to the local church and drop them off until they’re 18!

No, here’s what I mean — if we recognize that our children belong to God before they belong to us, we can have confidence that God is far more concerned about their growth and well-being than we are.

That is reassuring to any parent!

Our Lord, parenting is not easy. Even for those of us whose children are grown, we continue to fret over the decisions of our kids. Help me to remember that, like Hannah, I’ve turned my children over to you. And I trust you to help them to grow in stature and in favor with you.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
"Roots and Wings" by Andrea Hernandez is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license.

Epistle for October 24, 2021

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Hebrews 7:23-28
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

The writer of Hebrews continues to draw the comparison between the priesthood of the order of Aaron and the priesthood of Jesus, who is of the order of Melchizedek.

To review, the priesthood of Aaron is comprised of fallible, mortal men who, by virtue of their mortality, are temporary tenants in the office of the priesthood.  Moreover, the sacrifices that they make are insufficient to resolve the problem of sin on a permanent basis, but must be offered again and again in a futile attempt to overcome sin.

In contrast, the priesthood of Melchizedek is not hereditary.  The priesthood of Melchizedek is by divine oath and call.  Also, the priesthood of Jesus, as a priest in the order of Melchizedek, is eternal because Jesus is eternal.  And his sacrifice is also sufficient to remove sin completely and forever, as we will see.

Hebrews elaborates on the contrasts. Aaronic priests:  

….were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office.

In contrast, Jesus:

….holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever.

Aaronic priests are, in a sense, “a dime a dozen;” but Jesus is unique because he is permanently in office.

And because of his uniquely eternal nature, Jesus is able to sustain his priestly ministry on behalf of the faithful:

Consequently he is able for all time to save those who approach God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.

Another possible translation of the phrase able for all time to save is able to save completely.  Or, as some old saints have it, able to save to the uttermost!

One of a priest’s primary tasks is intercession on behalf of suppliants; Jesus lives forever and can continually make intercession for salvation.  Jesus began to make intercession during his earthly ministry, as we are reminded by his prayers on behalf of his disciples and those who would come to believe because of them.  But we are especially reminded of the ultimate high priestly prayer of his ministry, when he interceded for sinners while he was on the cross:

Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34).

Hebrews reminds us of the unique nature of Jesus as one who is fully human and fully divine, who is capable of interceding because he is sinless:  

For it was fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, blameless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.

The sacrifice of Jesus is once and for all because he offers himself as the perfect sacrifice:  

Unlike the other high priests, he has no need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for those of the people; this he did once for all when he offered himself.

Jesus had no sin, ergo required no sacrifice for himself.  His entire priestly focus was on the remission of the sins of the people.

Finally, Hebrews contrasts the ceremonial law which appointed the Aaronic priests to the appointment of Jesus as high priest as the Son of God:

For the law appoints as high priests those who are subject to weakness, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever.

Hebrews is not suggesting that Jesus was “declared” the Son of God by the word of the oath. Jesus was not merely “adopted” as Son of God.  Hebrews has already made clear earlier that Jesus is the preexistent Son of God from before the beginning of time:

but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds.  He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word (Hebrews 1:2-3).

Rather, Hebrews is saying that because of the bodily life of Jesus as a man born in time, who went to the cross for the purification from sin, the ceremonial law has been abolished.  The earthly Aaronic priesthood has been abrogated in favor of this word of the oath:

It is even more obvious when another priest arises, resembling Melchizedek, one who has become a priest, not through a legal requirement concerning physical descent, but through the power of an indestructible life.  For it is attested of him, “You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.” There is, on the one hand, the abrogation of an earlier commandment because it was weak and ineffectual  (for the law made nothing perfect); there is, on the other hand, the introduction of a better hope, through which we approach God (Hebrews 7:15-18).

Jesus is the perfect high priest according to every possible criteria, but especially because the Father says so!

APPLY:  

The greatest take-away that we have from this passage is the immense comfort that we have in Jesus as our high priest:

he is able for all time to save those who approach God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.

As we learned from Hebrews 4:14-16:

 Since, then, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession.  For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin.  Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

The barrier between God and the believer has been torn down by the work of Jesus as high priest.  We are reminded of the moment on the cross when:

…Jesus cried again with a loud voice and breathed his last.  At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom (Matthew 27:50-51).

And even now, Jesus is interceding for us in the holy of holies, in the presence of his Father!

This is an immense comfort to those who may now approach the throne of grace with boldness. 

RESPOND: 

I believe in the power of prayer, although I confess that my prayers and intercessions are weak.

So, in my prayers I find two principles that provide great reassurance concerning intercession.

First, the reassurance from Romans 8:26-28:   

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.  And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

I may not know what to pray for or how to pray, but the Spirit does know, and prays deeply on my behalf, knowing what we need better than we do.

The second principle of prayer that guides me is found in today’s lectionary reading from Hebrews.  Jesus is my high priest, who always lives to make intercession for us. Jesus is on my side, “in my corner” so to speak.  How can we possibly lose?

So, when a friend tells me that they are praying for me, I am extremely grateful.  But I also know that the Spirit and the Son are interceding for me. They know infallibly what I need, and pray without ceasing for me!

Our Lord, I thank you that you have been made my high priest, and that you not only have saved me, but that you intercede for me forever. You understand my weaknesses because you have been in the flesh; but you also have overcome all sin by your sinless life, and through your death and resurrection have opened the way for me to enter into the very presence of the Father!  Thank you!  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
"Hebrews 7_25" by Baptist Union of Great Britain is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.

Old Testament for December 30, 2018

Author’s Note:  I encourage all of my readers to prepare for the Christmas season with the Choose This Day Family Bible Study for the Advent season.  It’s a fun, short (10-15 minutes) Bible study that the whole family can enjoy daily from December 1 to 25.  You can visit that website  by clicking this link.

And now, back to today’s lectionary reading:START WITH SCRIPTURE:
1 Samuel 2:18-20, 26
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

(SELECTING PASSAGES FOR THE SOAR STUDY WAS COMPLICATED BY THE GLORIOUS CELEBRATION OF CHRISTMAS THAT INTERVENES BETWEEN THE LAST SUNDAY OF ADVENT AND THIS FIRST SUNDAY IN CHRISTMAS. HOWEVER, IF THE READER IS INTERESTED IN REFLECTIONS ON THE CHRISTMAS PASSAGES, I INVITE YOU TO CHECK OUT THE SOAR ENTRIES FOR DEC. 28, 2014)

OBSERVE:

It is important to understand the back story of  our lectionary passage today.  We remember that Hannah had been infertile. When her husband Elkanah made his annual pilgrimage to Shiloh (the home of the ark of the covenant), she accompanied him there.  One year her prayers to the Lord for a child were so fervent that Eli, the high priest, had blessed her and said,

“Go in peace; the God of Israel grant the petition you have made to him” (1 Samuel 1:18).

Hannah did become pregnant and gave birth to Samuel.  What is most amazing is that she was so grateful for this blessing that after Samuel was weaned, she took him back to Shiloh and offered him up to serve in the house of the Lord:

“For this child I prayed; and the Lord has granted me the petition that I made to him. Therefore I have lent him to the Lord; as long as he lives, he is given to the Lord”(1 Samuel 1:27-28).

Now, we see the growth and maturation of the child Samuel.  He wears a linen ephod in his service for the Lord, which was a kind of ritual garment that the priestly caste wore.

And Hannah manages to stay in touch with her son as he grows up by visiting each year for the annual sacrifice, bringing with her a new linen ephod that presumably has been tailored to accommodate Samuel’s growth.

The yearly sacrifice to which this passage refers is likely the Day of Atonement.  This was a solemn fast day for all Israel; and the high priest offered a sacrifice to atone for the sins of all the people.

In our passage, as Elkanah and Hannah come to Shiloh, the high priest Eli annually blessed them and prayed for their fertility:

“May the Lord repay you with children by this woman for the gift that she made to the Lord” 

The priest’s prayers, and Hannah’s, were honored:

And the Lord took note of Hannah; she conceived and bore three sons and two daughters (1 Samuel 2:21). 

Samuel’s growth and development from a child into a man of God now will take center stage:

Now the boy Samuel continued to grow both in stature and in favor with the Lord and with the people.

This sets the stage for the events that will end the priesthood of Eli and his corrupt sons, and catapult Samuel into prominence as one of the preeminent judges and prophets in the Old Testament.

APPLY:  

Parenting is an exquisitely painful and joyful experience.  The moment our children are born, we begin to let go of them.  As they mature, they begin to grow away from us as they make their own decisions.

This is as it should be.  The purpose of parents is to eventually become obsolete as the governing force in our children’s lives.  Every emotionally healthy parent’s goal is to provide opportunities for their children to mature into emotionally healthy adults.

Hannah has done this far earlier than any of us might be willing to do.  When Samuel is weaned, perhaps sometime between 18 months and five years, she turns him over to Eli to be raised in the house of the Lord.

In a sense, that is where Christian parenting should begin.  When our children are born, we begin by turning our children over to God.  As parents, our job is not to shape these little ones into our own image, but to act as God’s proxies with our kids.

As with Samuel, our responsibility is to create the conditions so that our children may:

grow both in stature and in favor with the Lord and with the people.

RESPOND: 

There is great relief in following Hannah’s example — but I don’t mean that we should take our kids down to the local church and drop them off until they’re 18!

No, here’s what I mean — if we recognize that our children belong to God before they belong to us, we can have confidence that God is far more concerned about their growth and well-being than we are.

That is reassuring to any parent!

Our Lord, parenting is not easy. Even for those of us whose children are grown, we continue to fret over the decisions of our kids. Help me to remember that, like Hannah, I’ve turned my children over to you. And I trust you to help them to grow in stature and in favor with you.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
"Author Unknown There are two things we should give our children, one is roots and the other is wings" by BK (a.k.a. Symphony of Love) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license.

Epistle for October 28, 2018

“…he always lives to make intercession for them.” Hebrews 7:25

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Hebrews 7:23-28
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

The writer of Hebrews continues to draw the comparison between the priesthood of the order of Aaron and the priesthood of Jesus, who is of the order of Melchizedek.

To review, the priesthood of Aaron is comprised of fallible, mortal men who, by virtue of their mortality, are temporary tenants in the office of the priesthood.  Moreover, the sacrifices that they make are insufficient to resolve the problem of sin on a permanent basis, but must be offered again and again in a futile attempt to overcome sin.

In contrast, the priesthood of Melchizedek is not hereditary.  The priesthood of Melchizedek is by divine oath and call.  Also, the priesthood of Jesus, as a priest in the order of Melchizedek, is eternal because Jesus is eternal.  And his sacrifice is also sufficient to remove sin completely and forever, as we will see.

Hebrews elaborates on the contrasts. Aaronic priests:  

….were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office.

In contrast, Jesus

….holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever.

Aaronic priests are, in a sense, “a dime a dozen;” but Jesus is unique because he is permanently in office.

And because of his uniquely eternal nature, Jesus is able to sustain his priestly ministry on behalf of the faithful:

Consequently he is able for all time to save those who approach God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.

Another possible translation of the phrase able for all time to save is able to save completely.  Or, as some old saints have it, able to save to the uttermost!

One of a priest’s primary tasks is intercession on behalf of suppliants; Jesus lives forever and can continually make intercession for salvation.  Jesus began to make intercession during his earthly ministry, as we are reminded by his prayers on behalf of his disciples and those who would come to believe because of them.  But we are especially reminded of the ultimate high priestly prayer of his ministry, when he interceded for sinners while he was on the cross:

Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34).

Hebrews reminds us of the unique nature of Jesus as one who is fully human and fully divine, who is capable of interceding because he is sinless:  

For it was fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, blameless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.

The sacrifice of Jesus is once and for all because he offers himself as the perfect sacrifice:  

Unlike the other high priests, he has no need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for those of the people; this he did once for all when he offered himself.

Jesus had no sin, ergo required no sacrifice for himself.  His entire priestly focus was on the remission of the sins of the people.

Finally, Hebrews contrasts the ceremonial law which appointed the Aaronic priests to the appointment of Jesus as high priest as the Son of God:

For the law appoints as high priests those who are subject to weakness, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever.

Hebrews is not suggesting that Jesus was “declared” the Son of God by the word of the oath. Jesus was not merely “adopted” as Son of God.  Hebrews has already made clear earlier that Jesus is the preexistent Son of God from before the beginning of time:

but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds.  He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word (Hebrews 1:2-3).

Rather, Hebrews is saying that because of the bodily life of Jesus as a man born in time, who went to the cross for the purification from sin, the ceremonial law has been abolished.  The earthly Aaronic priesthood has been abrogated in favor of this word of the oath:

It is even more obvious when another priest arises, resembling Melchizedek, one who has become a priest, not through a legal requirement concerning physical descent, but through the power of an indestructible life.  For it is attested of him, “You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.” There is, on the one hand, the abrogation of an earlier commandment because it was weak and ineffectual  (for the law made nothing perfect); there is, on the other hand, the introduction of a better hope, through which we approach God (Hebrews 7:15-18).

Jesus is the perfect high priest according to every possible criteria, but especially because the Father says so!

APPLY:  

The greatest take-away that we have from this passage is the immense comfort that we have in Jesus as our high priest:

he is able for all time to save those who approach God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.

As we learned from Hebrews 4:14-16:

 Since, then, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession.  For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin.  Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

The barrier between God and the believer has been torn down by the work of Jesus as high priest.  We are reminded of the moment on the cross when:

….Jesus cried again with a loud voice and breathed his last.  At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom (Matthew 27:50-51).

And even now, Jesus is interceding for us in the holy of holies, in the presence of his Father!

This is an immense comfort to those who may now approach the throne of grace with boldness. 

RESPOND: 

I believe in the power of prayer, although I confess that my prayers and intercessions are weak.

So, in my prayers I find two principles that provide great reassurance concerning intercession.

First, the reassurance from Romans 8:26-28:   

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.  And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

I may not know what to pray for or how to pray, but the Spirit does know, and prays deeply on my behalf, knowing what we need better than we do.

The second principle of prayer that guides me is found in today’s lectionary reading from Hebrews.  Jesus is my high priest, who always lives to make intercession for us. Jesus is on my side, “in my corner” so to speak.  How can we possibly lose?

So, when a friend tells me that they are praying for me, I am extremely grateful.  But I also know that the Spirit and the Son are interceding for me. They know infallibly what I need, and pray without ceasing for me!

Our Lord, I thank you that you have been made my high priest, and that you not only have saved me, but that you intercede for me forever. You understand my weaknesses because you have been in the flesh; but you also have overcome all sin by your sinless life, and through your death and resurrection have opened the way for me to enter into the very presence of the Father!  Thank you!  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
"Gethsemane 05" by Waiting for the Word is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Old Testament for December 27, 2015

Author’s Note:  I encourage all of my readers to prepare for the Christmas season with the Choose This Day Family Bible Study for the Advent season.  It’s a fun, short (10-15 minutes) Bible study that the whole family can enjoy daily from December 1 to 25.  You can visit that website  by clicking this link.

And now, back to today’s lectionary reading:

Start with Scripture:

1 Samuel 2:18-20, 26

CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

(SELECTING PASSAGES FOR THE SOAR STUDY WAS COMPLICATED BY THE GLORIOUS CELEBRATION OF CHRISTMAS THAT INTERVENES BETWEEN THE LAST SUNDAY OF ADVENT AND THIS FIRST SUNDAY IN CHRISTMAS. HOWEVER, IF THE READER IS INTERESTED IN REFLECTIONS ON THE CHRISTMAS PASSAGES, I INVITE YOU TO CHECK OUT THE SOAR ENTRIES FOR DEC. 28, 2014)

OBSERVE:

It is important to understand the back story of  our lectionary passage today.  We remember that Hannah had been infertile. When her husband Elkanah made his annual pilgrimage to Shiloh, the home of the ark of the covenant, she accompanied him there.  One year her prayers to the Lord for a child were so fervent that Eli, the high priest, had blessed her and said,

“Go in peace; the God of Israel grant the petition you have made to him” (1 Samuel 1:18).

Hannah did become pregnant and gave birth to Samuel.  What is most amazing is that she was so grateful for this blessing that after Samuel was weaned, she took him back to Shiloh and offered him up to serve in the house of the Lord:

“For this child I prayed; and the Lord has granted me the petition that I made to him. Therefore I have lent him to the Lord; as long as he lives, he is given to the Lord”(1 Samuel 1:27-28).

Now, we see the growth and maturation of the child Samuel.  He wears a linen ephod in his service for the Lord, which was a kind of ritual garment that the priestly caste wore.

And Hannah manages to stay in touch with her son as he grows up by visiting each year for the annual sacrifice, bringing with her a new linen ephod that presumably has been tailored to accommodate Samuel’s growth.

The yearly sacrifice to which this passage refers is likely the Day of Atonement.  This was a solemn fast day for all Israel; and the high priest offered a sacrifice to atone for the sins of all the people.

In our passage, as Elkanah and Hannah come to Shiloh, the high priest Eli annually blessed them and prayed for their fertility:

“May the Lord repay you with children by this woman for the gift that she made to the Lord” 

The priest’s prayers, and Hannah’s, were honored:

And the Lord took note of Hannah; she conceived and bore three sons and two daughters (1 Samuel 2:21). 

Samuel’s growth and development from a child into a man of God now will take center stage:

Now the boy Samuel continued to grow both in stature and in favor with the Lord and with the people.

This sets the stage for the events that will end the priesthood of Eli and his corrupt sons, and catapult Samuel into prominence as one of the preeminent judges and prophets in the Old Testament.

APPLY:  

Parenting is an exquisitely painful and joyful experience.  The moment our children are born, we begin to let go of them.  As they mature, they begin to grow away from us as they make their own decisions.

This is as it should be.  The purpose of parents is to eventually become obsolete as the governing force in our children’s lives.  Every emotionally healthy parent’s goal is to provide opportunities for their children to mature into emotionally healthy adults.

Hannah has done this far earlier than any of us might be willing to do.  When Samuel is weaned, perhaps sometime between 18 months and five years, she turns him over to Eli to be raised in the house of the Lord.

In a sense, that is where Christian parenting should begin.  When our children are born, we begin by turning our children over to God.  As parents, our job is not to shape these little ones into our own image, but to act as God’s proxies with our kids.

As with Samuel, our responsibility is to create the conditions so that our children may:

grow both in stature and in favor with the Lord and with the people.

RESPOND: 

There is great relief in following Hannah’s example — but I don’t mean that we should take our kids down to the local church and drop them off until they’re 18!

No, here’s what I mean: if we recognize that our children belong to God before they belong to us, we can have confidence that God is far more concerned about their growth and well-being than we are.

That is reassuring to any parent!

Our Lord, parenting is not easy. Even for those of us whose children are grown, we continue to fret over the decisions of our kids. Help me to remember that, like Hannah, I’ve turned my children over to you. And I trust you to help them to grow in stature and in favor with you.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
"Author Unknown There are two things we should give our children, one is roots and the other is wings" by BK (a.k.a. Symphony of Love) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license.