What parent has not experienced a time when his or her child seemed to be threatened by some frightening situation? Just the thought of our children venturing out into the world may send us hurrying into the closet of prayer. Perhaps we find ourselves wishing we could somehow shelter and guide them forever. "He needs his mother" or "If she would only listen to her father," we think. And yet we can come to see more clearly that in truth the son is forever in the presence of his heavenly Mother, experiencing God's motherhood; and the daughter is never out of touch with her divine Father.
One mother who faced a terrible menace to her child was the mother of the baby Moses, born at a time when Pharaoh, the ruler of Egypt, had decreed death for every newborn Hebrew male. After three months, when she could no longer hide him, Moses' mother prepared an ark—a woven, basketlike crib—in which she placed Moses. She set the ark in the reeds near the river's edge.
Moses' sister remained at a suitable distance to watch over the little vessel. When Pharaoh's daughter came to bathe and found Moses, his sister was at hand to offer to find someone who could care for the child. So Moses was returned to his mother's care until it came time for him to live at the court of Pharaoh. See Ex. 1:15 , 16; Ex. 2:1–10.
