I Samuel 1:9-18

When an allergy forced me to take a month from my work as a singer with the Billy Graham Crusades, it gave me a chance to visit my 84-year-old mother.

One night at about 3 A.M., I woke up coughing. I tried to muffle the sound to keep from waking her, but in a minute or two I heard her fumbling with her slippers.

Mothers don’t change; the same instinct which had her on her feet at a whimper from one of her eight babies was getting her out of bed now.

A few minutes later, there was a rap on my door, and in she came with a cup of her tea and a plate of her own oatmeal cookies. Except for the white hair framing her face, it might have been 50 years before.

As Mother and I talked that night, the past seemed very close. And I found myself recalling other objects that her and Dad’s love had endowed with special meaning for me. One was a piano. The Shea family had no need for an alarm clock; our day started with Mother singing at the piano.

In singing, I found a release from the old problem of bashfulness. As I grew older, I poured out in song, thoughts and feelings I had no other way to express.

I placed the empty teacup on the nightstand.

“Can I give you something more?” she said.

She meant tea, but my thoughts were still on those other things. A piano, music, God, and hope eternal.

“Thank you, Mother,” I said. “You’ve given me everything I need.”

George Beverly Shea, Reprinted from Rochester, N.Y., Democrat and Chronicle

In this time when great efforts are being put forth for so-called equal rights for women, it is good to remember that the Lord has always given women a place of high standing. Jesus always gave women a place of high honor. The Apostle Paul, whom some accuse of being a woman-hater, in his letters to the churches, always speaks with high esteem of the outstanding ministry of the women where he has been.

Actually, every person finds his greatest fulfillment in being what the Lord wants us to be. The greatest thing that a mother can do is to be an outstanding mother.

By developing the proper traits, every woman can be outstanding in the eyes of her family. Today, we want to let Hannah suggest some of these traits to use as we observe her life.

When we look at the life of a person from the Bible, we tend to place them on a pedestal that God did not. We notice in Hannah a person who faced the same kinds of problems that we do. She had to deal with jealousy, competition, a lack of fulfillment, and a host of other problems, so she was just like us. Yet she is considered an outstanding example to women.

• Persistent in prayer
  • In her distress, she turned to the right source
  • Her prayer was specific
  • She prayed in confidence
• Faithful to her word
  • Her promise
  • Her remembrance
• Loyal to the Lord
  • She gave her son away
    • There is a lesson here. Only what we give the Lord can we really have.
  • She trained him in the ways of the Lord

Thus, through Hannah’s life, we discover how every woman can be outstanding in her family. God is not looking for super women; He is just looking for the average person who is willing to trust Him, walk with Him, and follow His leading. There is no greater fulfillment than that for any life.

The traits we have seen in Hannah’s life will enable each of us to fulfill what God is looking for in us. Persistence in prayer. Faithfulness in word. Loyalty to our Lord.