LIFE SCRIPTS

1 Samuel 1:21-28 NIV
[21] When her husband Elkanah went up with all his family to offer the annual sacrifice to the Lord and to fulfil his vow, [22] Hannah did not go. She said to her husband, “After the boy is weaned, I will take him and present him before the Lord, and he will live there always.” [23] “Do what seems best to you,” her husband Elkanah told her. “Stay here until you have weaned him; only may the Lord make good his word.” So the woman stayed at home and nursed her son until she had weaned him. [24] After he was weaned, she took the boy with her, young as he was, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh. [25] When the bull had been sacrificed, they brought the boy to Eli, [26], and she said to him, “Pardon me, my lord. As surely as you live, I am the woman who stood here beside you, praying to the Lord. [27] I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. [28] So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life, he will be given over to the Lord.” And he worshipped the Lord there.

Several things stick out of this passage.
First, Hannah, being a mother, was definitely attached to her child. But her commitment to God surpassed her attachment to her offspring. She was willing to offer up her son to God so that he may serve in the temple. Thinking of it, how can a mother give up her only child…a child she had travailed in tears to conceive? Hannah is a woman who demonstrates tremendous faith and commitment to God. Even as she approached Eli, the priest, she had to reintroduce herself because she was an obscure person. But her commitment to God uplifted her to prominence through her son, Samuel.
Secondly, Elkanah’s response to Hannah upon hearing her intentions is interesting. He asks her to do as she pleases. It paints a laissez-faire picture of a man who is leading his family spiritually. But it does paint a rosy picture of a woman who takes the lead in the spiritual issues of the family. God honours any parent who stands on behalf of the family spiritually. God honoured Hannah’s commitment to her son even though the father had given her a leeway, to say the least. What matters is the state of the heart.
Thirdly, the gifts Hannah brought before the priest were symbolic. A 3 year old bull, flour, and wine. Flour is used to make bread, and together with wine are the elements of the Holy communion. The bull was sacrificed, symbolising the cross. These gifts pointed to Christ, our ultimate sacrifice. They direct us towards the holy communion, elements we hold dear in remembrance of the suffering and death of Christ on the cross.