Not Ours...

We are reading through 1 Samuel with our young adults at church and the first chapter hit me so hard this week.

"After he (Samuel) was weaned, she (Hannah) took the boy with her, young as he was, to the house of the Lord. They brought the boy to Eli and she said to him, '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.'"

My bible says they usually weaned children around 3 years of age. As Benjamin approaches his third birthday, I immediately imagined leading my firstborn to a temple, with his soft little hand in mine and his precious little voice jabbering in my ear, and saying goodbye as I handed him over to the Lord. It took my breath away. I sat there overwhelmed by the reminder that Benjamin is not mine. He has been entrusted to us to raise for the Lord but I am to hold him with open hands. I don't have to literally take my son by the hand at 3 years of age and leave him with a priest to raise, but when we dedicated him years ago, ultimately I was telling the Lord that I am giving Benjamin back to Him to be used for His glory and His kingdom. Lord, thank you for entrusting Benjamin to us and help us to be ever mindful that he was born at this time for a purpose and may we never stand in the way of the mighty call You have on his life.

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