A MOTHER WITH POISE AND GRACE – HANNAH

The role and the responsibility of a mother is precious, priceless and unenviable. The amount of love and the heart to sacrifice for her children and the family is beyond human traits. It is a special gift of God, given to mothers. Oh the love of a mother.

The kind of woman that someone is made up of, is the same that makes her a wife, and the same that leads to, her being a mother, a mother-in-law, the grand-mother and every other relationship in her life.

For our Mother’s Day meditation, let us look at the life of Hannah, the mother of Samuel, and see what we can learn from her life. Also, what can we appreciate in her, as a mother. 

Hannah is an amazing woman, and thus by extension, an amazing wife, and an amazing mother. The quality and the character, that a mother is made up of, is not independent of who she is, as a woman. Same is with Hannah and every mother.

Hannah, if we see her life, we see the train of her virtues begins in who she is, even before she became a wife, and then a mother. The home she grew up in; the nurturing that she received in her upbringing; the place the LORD God Almighty held in the hearts, minds and lives of her parents; the priority of God and His way of life, that was practiced and preached in her family, surely had shaped Hannah, into the woman that she turned out to be, and the wife that she became, and the mother she is.

An individual is subjected to a whole range of learning, unlearning and relearning in the family, friends and the society. What is prioritised in the family, and practiced actively and uncompromisingly, within the family, shapes the individual. A lot of credit should go to the parents and the family, in the upbringing of a child. So also criticism, if a child goes bad.

This is seen retrospectively, in the way Hannah conducted herself as a wife, and faced all her struggles with grace, poise and dignity. We see the same in her indomitable spirit, in the way she persistently sought the LORD, year after year, for a child. We see a struggling and suffering wife, being gracious in her conduct with the “other” woman, in the family. Hannah held herself in one piece, without letting herself to be shattered into thousand pieces. This reveals to us, who she is, and what kind of mettle she is made up of – a strong, determined, courageous and “independent” woman, yet, gentle, sublime, humble, composed, who placed her families priorities, above her personal needs, sufferings and agony. A reflection of the traits, inherited from her family; honed by her personal desire and commitment to such value system, and to faithfully practice them in her life, despite all that she faced. This is a woman worth in gold.

Hanna held her poise and was graceful…
– When she realised she was barren.
– When her husband decided to marry another lady.
– When the other woman got pregnant and gave birth to children.
– When the other woman teased and taunted Hanna with slurs and insults.
– When her prayers for a child were unanswered.
– When her God seemed distant and “disinterested” in her plight.

– Yet, she never gave up.
– Year upon year, she went to the temple in Jerusalem, and repeated the same prayer for a child.
– She lived with dignity, poise and grace, despite all that life had hurled at her.
– Even if those around her made piercing comments, she held her grace, and never stooped down to their level.
– When God gave her a child, she kept her end of the promise.
– She was a woman of her word and integrity. As promised, she took the little Samuel, and left Him at the temple in Jerusalem, in the service of the LORD of Hosts, to whom she prayed with tears and anguish, when in need.
– Hannah, when the need was met, remembered to keep the promise she made in her need, and never forgot it.

Let us seek the LORD, to help us raise up such amazing women, who will lead their families in paths of righteous Christian living, with poise and grace. Even so the LORD help us.

A Happy Mother’s Day all you dear mothers. May the LORD bless you. Your contribution to the family, the Church, the society and to the world at large is inestimable.