Hannah

1 Samuel 1:20 So in the course of time Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying, "Because I asked the LORD for him." 24 After he was weaned, she took the boy with her, young as he was, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the LORD at Shiloh. 25 When they had slaughtered the bull, they brought the boy to Eli, 26 and she said to him, "As surely as you live, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the LORD. 27 I prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of him. 28 So now I give him to the LORD. For his whole life he will be given over to the LORD." And he worshiped the LORD there.

Hannah's husband had 2 wives. Hannah and Peninnah. We cannot imagine such a thing. We could kill a man that cheats, much less one that we had to share on a regular basis, although many women do just that. That is surely another story for another day. Peninnah is mean and she is having babies and that is supposed to be the worth of a woman in those days. So Peninnah is pretty much letting Hannah know that she is worth nothing.
Hannah goes to God and begs for a child stating that if God gives her a child, she will give the child back to God. And she really does. After the child is weaned.... no one is really too sure exactly what that means. The child may have been weaned as we think of it, possibly as small as 3-4 years old. He may have been any age under the age of 12. Apparently at the age of 13 a Jewish son is considered a man (anyone who has a son can testify that it is NOT the truth... anyone who has had a man under 40 can probably testify to it too....) so he would have been younger than that.
So when the child is weaned, she takes him to the temple and leaves him there. Let's really look at this. She did not live in the city where she left her child. She only went there once a year to sacrifice at the temple. Can you imagine? She sees her son only once a year and she brings him a coat she has made with her hands every year.
1 Samuel 2:21 And the LORD was gracious to Hannah; she conceived and gave birth to three sons and two daughters. Meanwhile, the boy Samuel grew up in the presence of the LORD.

God was gracious to Hannah and gave her 5 other children, but I promise you, as a mother, they did not replace the one she gave back to God.. I see a couple of amazing things about this woman. First being that her commitment to God was out of this world. Anyone who has carried a child in their own body and gives birth in pain can understand how unreal the idea of giving your child away would be. Even if it were in commitment to the child, such as an unwed or teenage mother. Or in commitment to God, as this woman did. I do not know that I would have been strong enough to carry out the vow she made to God. She stayed commited to the child, continuing to care for his needs throughout his life. Because of her commitment to God, one of the greatest prophets ever born was able to be the man he was called to be. Many times as a parent, we try to hold on to our child because of what we want for them, instead of what God has for them. We do an extreme disservice to God and to the kingdom when we do this. There are women today that have only been born in order to give birth to and raise a man or woman of God. If we are not true to our purpose with our children, how can the kingdom of God be furthered?
My daughter leaves for college in just a few days. While part of me is very proud of her and glad that she is moving forward, another part of me is distraught. My daughter was given a vision of her purpose when she was yet a young girl. And she has been walking toward it ever since. I went past her bedroom this morning and she has started packing. Much of her belongings are now packed and ready to be moved. As a mother I grieve for the child I am giving to the world. As a woman of God I rejoice for the woman I have had a part in raising.
Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
What are you doing to train up a child? If you do not have your own child, you surely have the ability to affect another's child in a positive manner. You will be blessed for your act of love toward a child. It takes a village to raise a child. Not just one parent, not just two. Stand up this day and sow into the life of a child. You will not know for years to come, just who that child will be.... but you will know that you have made a difference....