Exodus 2:2 “…When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months.”
Romans 8:23 “…we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.”
Maybe you’ve heard of it. The day when adoptive parents finally get to receive the child they’ve so long awaited. For my brother Marty and his wife, Lisa, the wait lasted over six years before they could bring their Hannah home from China. But to them Gotcha’ Day was worth the wait. Mothers, in particular, infamously persist on behalf of their children.
Perhaps no other word describes a mother’s love more than sacrifice. One of the most famous mothers in the Bible illustrates the price mothers pay. She realized if she kept her baby boy, he would be murdered by Pharaoh. For three months she poured into her little one every ounce of love she had…then, in order to spare his life, she gave him up. Because of her relinquishment, Moses grew from a “fine child” into one of the greatest leaders in history.
Not every child is literally plucked from death as was Moses. Not every child is rescued from a life of unwantedness like little Hannah or my dear cousin Anna. But no matter how a child enters a family, every mother knows that the day of letting go lies just around the bend. For most of us, the relinquishment comes in increments, for some, like an unexpected jolt. But whether we watch our children move across town or half-way across the country, inevitably Gotcha’ Day will turn into Goodbye Day. A mother’s finest hour arrives when she sacrificially releases her children back into the hand of God.
It makes me think of another parent. A father…a Heavenly Father. One who also poured every ounce of love into his son, his firstborn…then in order to spare the lives of his other children, gave him up. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). He relinquished his son to rescue us from a life of unwantedness and abandonment. So no matter who we are or where we come from, we can know for certain that a day is coming when we will find loving arms awaiting to hold us, to welcome us home. On that day we will hear the words of pure love saying…
Gotcha’