Saving by giving away

by Joyce Rupp

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When she could hide him no longer she got a papyrus basket for him, and ... she put the child in it and placed it among the reeds on the bank of the river.
--Exodus 2:3

Moses was born when the king of Egypt had ordered that all the Hebrew baby boys be killed. In order to save him, the mother of Moses made the excruciating decision to give the little child away. As three-month-old Moses floated in the basket, he was found and given a good life with Pharaoh’s daughter.

What must Moses’ mother have thought as she placed him in that basket? Her heart must have been near to breaking. She could not have envisioned that her little son would be discovered by a rich woman and brought up among the elite. Nor could she have seen that this little endangered boy would be counted among the greatest spiritual leaders of all time.

Sometimes we must put our “little sons” in baskets on the waters of life and let them go into the care of God. Our “sons” may be whatever we love greatly and can no longer have: hope for good health, our jobs, secure situations, etc. When we give this little child of ours to the water, we cannot see what good will come of it. Yet the grace of God and the healing of time can bring us amazing suprises as it did with Moses. Next time we are asked to put our “little son” on the water, let us remember the story of Moses and trust in God.

Holy One, when there are things hidden
and unknown in my situation,
let me not doubt that good can come
from difficult decisions and courageous actions.

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