Thinking of all you mothers out there who may be feeling a little like a basket case as your babies head off to school. Whether it is kindergarten, middle school, high school, college—or simply another season where you have to loosen your grip and trust God with them—I hope this encourages you.
God is still in control of the basket.
Years ago, there were plenty of laundry baskets in my home—until our cat Moon arrived.
For some reason, Moon loved lying in a laundry basket. Those white plastic baskets couldn’t possibly have been comfortable, but he didn’t care. He expected “his” empty basket to be waiting for him every night and became restless if somebody had the nerve to put laundry in it!
Before long, Moon convinced our other cat, Mr. Jenks, that he needed a basket too—although Mr. Jenks preferred his with a little padding.
They had officially become basket cases!
I used to laugh when I saw them curled up contentedly in their baskets. But there have been plenty of times in my own life when I have felt like a basket case—and I didn’t enjoy it nearly as much as they did.
You know the feeling.
Something is beyond your control.
You don’t know what is going to happen.
You desperately want to fix it, but you can’t.
Maybe that is exactly how one mother felt thousands of years ago.
A Mother, a Baby and a Basket
In Exodus 2, Moses’ mother faced an unimaginable situation. Pharaoh had ordered that Hebrew baby boys be killed. She hid her precious son for three months, but eventually she could hide him no longer.
So she did something that must have required incredible faith.
She made a basket.
She coated it with tar and pitch, placed her baby inside and set the basket among the reeds along the bank of the Nile.
Then Moses’ sister stood at a distance to see what would happen.
I love that little detail.
Moses’ mother could no longer control what happened to her baby, but God had never lost control.
Pharaoh’s daughter found Moses. She had compassion on him, and through an amazing turn of events, Moses’ own mother was brought back to nurse and care for him—and Pharaoh’s daughter paid her to do it!
Only God!
What looked like a mother’s worst nightmare became part of God’s plan to raise one of the greatest leaders in Scripture.
Moses started life in a basket, but God already knew where that basket was going.
Maybe somebody needs to hear that today.
You may have reached the place where you have done everything you know to do.
You prayed.
You protected.
You prepared.
You loved.
You tried.
And now you have to release the basket.
Mama, God knows exactly where your baby is.
He knows the classroom they’re sitting in.
He knows the college campus they’re walking across.
He knows the friends they’ll meet.
He knows the struggles you cannot see.
He knows what they need before you ever know they need it.
You may have to watch from a distance, just as Moses’ sister did, but you can watch with hope.
> “But as for me, I watch in hope for the LORD, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.”
> **Micah 7:7**
And I love these words:
> “He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters.”
> **Psalm 18:16**
God knew how to find one tiny basket among the reeds.
He knows how to find us too.
And Then There Were Twelve Baskets
Years later, Jesus faced another seemingly impossible situation.
More than five thousand hungry people were gathered around Him, and there wasn’t enough food to feed them.
Philip looked at the numbers and basically said, We don’t have enough.
Andrew found a boy with five small barley loaves and two fish and wondered, What good is this among so many?
But John 6:6 gives us one of my favorite little sentences:
“He already had in mind what he was going to do.”
Oh, how I love that!
Before the disciples figured it out…
Jesus already knew.
Before they found enough money…
Jesus already knew.
Before they understood where the provision would come from…
Jesus already knew.
Jesus took what they had, gave thanks and began distributing the food.
Everybody ate.
Everybody had enough.
And when it was over, the disciples gathered twelve baskets full of leftovers.
The situation that looked like not enough ended with baskets overflowing.
Do you see it?
In Exodus, God protected the basket.
In John, Jesus filled the baskets.
And perhaps today He’s asking you to trust Him with your basket.
Whatever has you feeling like a basket case today, remember:
God is a basket-case specialist.
When you can’t see what He’s doing, He already has something in mind.
When your resources don’t seem sufficient, He is still your Provider.
When someone you love is beyond your reach, they are never beyond His.
And when you feel as though you’re floating down a river with absolutely no idea where you’re headed, God still knows exactly where you are.
So don’t give up.
Don’t stop praying.
Don’t stop watching in hope.
Don’t stop trusting the One who can draw a baby from the water and feed thousands from a little boy’s lunch.
Sometimes faith means placing what we love into God’s hands and trusting Him with what happens next.
So, Mama, if you’re feeling a little like a basket case as you watch your baby walk away from you and into a new season…
release the basket.
God sees it.
God sees them.
And God already knows what He is going to do.
Prayer
Dear God,
Sometimes letting go of the people and circumstances I love is so hard. I want to know where they are going, what will happen and how everything will turn out.
But today I remember Moses’ little basket.
You saw him when his mother could no longer hold him. You knew exactly where he was, exactly where he was going and exactly what You were going to do.
Lord, help me trust You like that.
When I feel like a basket case, remind me that You are still in control of the basket. When I see scarcity, remind me of twelve baskets overflowing. When I face deep waters, remind me that Your hand can reach down and draw me out.
I release what I cannot control into Your hands today.
I will pray.
I will trust.
And I will watch in hope.
Because You already have in mind what You are going to do.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen.
