Take Courage! Mom of Sons

After days of delay, I began the search for scriptures to pray over my sons. There are several good blogs out there with lists from 5 to 14; some list the scripture while others write out the scripture and the wording of the prayer. Let’s focus on the first one that struck home at our house.

From 1 Kings 2:2 “Take courage and be a man” (NLT). “Take courage” immediately made me think of the Lindy Conant & the Circuit Riders song that says “Take courage, the Harvest is ripe. ” There’s another line in this song God is using big in my life over this year, but that’s a story for another day.

Other Bible translations use the phrase “Be strong, therefore, and show yourself a man” “Be strong and prove yourself a man” “act like a man.” Is anyone else humming “Be a Man” from Mulan? There’s irony in that song since Mulan is a young woman in the midst of an army of men. I tend to think “how nice, they are encouraging each other,” but it’s more than that–it’s stronger. It’s an admonition, a command, a charge for how to go forward into life and into battle. May I never coddle my sons in such a way as to rob their lives of the men they are inside.

As my sons ages spread from 15 to 21, you might think it’s a little late to say that. But just as the woman I’ve become was always in me as a child, the men my sons are becoming has always been there. Just as I am still becoming the woman God wants me to be, my grown sons are still becoming all the Lord designed in them. It is never too late to pray over them, to alter the way I interact with them to include more respect, to rejoice over every one of their victories.

In 1 Kings 2, David is nearing the end of his life and charging his son Soloman with how to go forward as a man and as the next king.  “I am about to go the way of all the earth. Be strong, be courageous, ³ and keep the charge of the Lord your God, walking in his ways and keeping his statutes, his commandments, his ordinances, and his testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses, so that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn” (1 Kings 2:2-3 NRSV).

So I look to God’s word and pray strength for my sons. I pray for their courage. Lord, help them to follow your word, trust in you, obey your word, and succeed/prosper in the Name of Jesus according to Your will.

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