The woman whose son was alive was deeply moved out of love for her son and said to the king, “Please, my lord, give her the living baby! Don’t kill him!” – 1 Kings 3:26

She knew her baby. She carried him for nine months and delighted in his movements in her tummy. His kicks were hard sometimes, but she bore through them. She could see in her mind, his naughty little smile when she squirmed; and she loved it.

Uh! His first cry! What joy! Through teary eyes and exhaustion, she held her baby for the first time. Kissing his bloody forehead, she sobbed with delight. She had nothing – a prostitute no one cared much about. However, she had love. She lived in obscurity with her friend who also bore her child three days after her. But now, she wakes up to a child, cold and beset by rigor mortis (1 Kings 3:19-21),

“This is not my baby,” she said.

She knew it. She bore him and knew him thoroughly. She tickled as the boy sucked milk and licked her nipples. How could she mistake him for some other child?

But, listen! The cry of her baby! She couldn’t miss it. She could identify it from a thousand babies. So, where is it coming from? Her roommate claims the boy is hers. Justice lies in the bosom of the king, so off they go – to King Solomon –the test case after his enthronement. She tells her story.

 “No! The living one is my son; the dead one is yours,” the other woman said.

“No! The dead one is yours; the living one is mine,” the first woman said.

“Bring me a sword … Cut the living child in two and give half to one and half to the other.”

“Please, my lord, give her the living baby! Don’t kill him!”

The king’s gavel went down:

“Give the living baby to the first woman. Do not kill him; she is his mother.”

That’s the heart of a mother – a heart that cannot stand the slaying of her child for any reason, because of love. The other woman could have him, so long as he lives. Her son would not die because of somebody’s cruel and selfish claim. A mother’s heart never ceases to protect the life of her child.

Observe the heart of a mother through Hagar when the water for her baby, Ishmael, ran out in the desert of Beersheba. “I cannot watch the boy die … And as she sat there, she began to sob” (Gen. 21:16). Feel a mother’s heart in the Shunammite when her son died on her lap until she got help: “As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So he got up and followed her (2 Kings 4:30). Journey through the day with the virtuous woman in Proverbs 31:10-31, and be captivated by the purity of a mother’s heart for her family. And finally, experience the pain a mother endures through the treasury of Mary’s heart (Lk. 2:19, 51). Come to grips with a mother’s heart when our Lord Jesus Christ stood trial before Pilate, when He carried His cross through the streets of Jerusalem, and on Golgotha, when they drove the nails through His hands. It is as pure as gold!

That is why we salute you today, mother! You are the most beautiful gem in all of God’s creation; and we love you.

Happy Mother’s Day!