Any honest parent will tell you that there are many days and many times when they face parenting fears. Do I know what I am doing? Did I do the right thing? When it is time to hold on tightly and when is it time to let go?

An excellent example of parenting is found in Hannah, mother of Samuel. Hannah gives us some practical instruction for how we can release our children in a way that will benefit both parent and the child.

When we meet Hannah in 1 Samuel 1, she is dealing with the problem of childlessness. Many people today can identify with her plight. She wanted a child, but that hadn’t happened yet. Making things worse, her husband had another wife who did have children. Her rival never let Hannah forget that she had children while Hannah did not.

One year when the family made their annual trip to Shiloh to offer sacrifices to God, 1 Samuel 1:9 Hannah left to go pour out her heart to God about her dilemma. That teaches us one thing every parent needs to do is lift up their children to God in prayer. Hannah did that even before she had a child. She also made a promise that if God would bless her with a child, she would return that child to Him to serve the Lord his entire life.

God heard Hannah’s prayer. Verse 19 says, “…the Lord remembered her.” Hannah had a son she named Samuel, which means “heard of God” because the Lord had answered her prayer. In verse 24 we see how Hannah kept her promise to God. She took her son to the Tabernacle so he could serve of the Lord “for the rest of his life” as one version of verse 28 says. This means that Hannah had intentionally committed her child to God.

That is a second important lesson every parent needs to learn. Our children do not “belong” to us. They are God’s just like everything else in our world ultimately belongs to Him. Our task as parents is to make sure that we train them to love, serve, and obey the Lord. We need to start doing that when our children are very young. Proverbs 22:6 says, “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.” The word “train” means “dedicate, instruct” but it can also be translated “start” or “begin” That shows us that parents need to begin at an early age to lead our children to the Lord. That is what Hannah did.

What should a Christian parent want for their children? There is something far more important that for our children to be well-liked, or to be independent, or to be well-educated or to make a good income. It is for our children to know God, to love Him and to want to serve Him every day of their lives.