Gutsy Mamas

I rarely listen through an entire sermon and arrive at a preacher's intended take-away. It's actually evidence of my pitiful attention span more than a reflection of poor sermonizing.

This fine Sunday I found my mind wandering off to the end of Exodus 1 to visit with 2 of my favorite characters, Shiphrah and Puah. (unfortunate names nowadays)

The story goes that wicked Pharoah of ancient Egypt was interested in eliminating God's people and ordered these 2 ladies, Hebrew midwives, to kill all male Hebrew babies upon their births.

Nothing doing. Not only did these two gutsy mamas defy his order, they boldly lied to him and said that the hearty Hebrew women delivered the boys before they could even attend to the mothers. They apparently knew they were on the frontlines of a cultural and spiritual battle.

I am charmed by their nerve, and intrigued that God Himself seems to endorse the fact that they threw off the authority figure that He placed over them in favor of His higher purpose. Not sure I get that completely, but I am also struck by God's esteem of wifery and mothering, demonstrated by the fact that He rewards their fear of Him by giving them families of their own:

"So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous. And because the midwives feared God, He gave them families of their own." Exodus 1:20

Do we daily see our opportunities as wives and mothers as being as precious as a reward? Do we honor those who embrace this calling as heroines? Are our households formidable op centers for a higher calling? Do we often enough gauge our trajectory and make the necessary adjustments?

This world needs more gutsy mamas!