A Mother's Day Meditation

Exodus 1:22-2:3 Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people; "Every boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live."  Now a man of the house of Levi married a Levite woman, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son.  When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months.  But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch.  Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile.


I can scarcely imagine the agony of being pregnant in Egypt during this time.  How could a mother bear to throw her newborn son into the Nile river?  On the other hand, how could she bear to do it later after bonding with him for three months?


Moses' mother was not the first or last mother to have to make an impossible choice.  Thankfully most of us aren't confronted with such a decision, but most mothers do have some difficult choices presented in the course of raising children.


When she could no longer hide him, Moses' mother took a step of faith.  She fulfilled the letter of the law....she did put her son into the Nile.  But, she did it so as to provide as much protection as she was able to create.  She could not have foreseen what would happen, but the God in whom she placed her faith foreknew exactly what would happen.  God used Pharaoh's wicked decree and the faith of Moses' mother to bring about the rescue of the Jews from Egypt.  


As mothers, we cannot know what the consequences of our choices will be.  Let us make them in faith, believing that God loves our children even more than we do.


Happy Mother's Day

No Less Beautiful

 No less beautiful....just less colorful and colder.  
A morning in Florida last week,
Or this morning in northern New York.
I just need to dress for the occasion, 
So I put on my heavy coat,
My hat and boots and gloves.


No less beautiful...just less colorful and colder.
A time of peaceful non-events ...smooth sailing,
Or the chaos and distress that life can be.
I just need to dress for the occasion,
So I put on a hopeful heart,
And wrap myself in layers of faith.

Faith, Reason, Truth

Faith and Reason are twin lenses through which we can look at the fascinating world in which we live.  They are equally important filters through which we can pour the never ending stream of information which is available to us in a quest to shake out the nuggets which are Truth.

The person of Faith should not ignore Reason.  If one believes in God as Creator, he should recognize that God gave man a mind quite purposely, expecting him to use it.  Not pouring information through the filter of Reason results in a shapeless mass of disjointed emotion, totally impractical for surviving the world.

The person of Reason should not ignore Faith.  Believing in order, logic and science is all well and good, but it has limitations.  Much of what is beautiful and connects with our spirits is not easily explained by Reason alone.  A sunset or a symphony can be explained in scientific terms, but how and why do we appreciate their beauty?  Not pouring information through the filter of Faith results in a rigid structure not suited for real life.

Exercising Faith and Reason together allows a rich and never-ending appreciation for all that swirls around us.  It allows us to grasp what is trustworthy and solid out of chaos and information overload.  It is man’s only shot at finding Truth.