Love does not seek its own

I'm planning to do some more posting on how the Lord has gone before us (as I had mentioned in my previous post) in about 2 weeks, I want to finish the move before I reflect in this format about God's blessings and answers to prayer during this time of transition. Until then I've got another reflection for you that is a late Mother's Day reflection...

Recently, as I've been reading through 1 Kings I stumbled across a familiar story. I can remember hearing a story of Solomon's great wisdom as a kid in Sunday School and even as a small child you recognize that he was extraordinarily wise. The story goes that two women shared a home, both had children days apart, but sadly one woman had rolled over on her baby in the night. She awoke and found her child dead, and in a moment of panic quietly switched her dead baby with the other woman's live child. The two women came before Solomon both claiming the live child as their own. Solomon asked for a sword and stated that each woman would get half. The true mother quickly cried out, "Give the son to the other woman," while the other woman swept away in grief liked that the living son would be divided for I'm sure she thought, "if I can't have my son, neither should she have hers." Solomon quickly identifies the woman who sought to preserve the child's life as the true mother.

Even a casual reader has to recognize wisdom in the young King Solomon, but as I read it this time I asked the question, why? What is so wise about Solomon's response? What does he recognize in the mother's response?

Solomon recognizes that a mother, the one who selflessly cares, provides, and nurtures their child will seek the best for their child even if the situation demands that the best is not with them. A mother's love was put to the test in Solomon's response, does the mother love her child enough to let the child go so that he can live, or will the mother demand that the child must stay with her even if its to the child's detriment?

Love does not seek its own (1 Cor. 13:5), but seeks the best for the object of its love. Solomon's response impresses us because he recognized that a mother's love is so great and selfless that she will want the very best for her child even when that's at great cost to herself.

I'm blessed to have both received such love as a son from my mother, and to witness such selflessness by my wife for my sons.