The next morning Elkanah and his family got up early, and after worshipping the LORD, they went back home to Ramah. Elkanah had intercourse with his wife Hannah, and the LORD answered her prayer. So it was that she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, and explained, "I asked the LORD for him."

The time came again for Elkanah and his family to go to Shiloh and offer to the LORD the yearly sacrifice and the special sacrifice he had promised. But this time Hannah did not go. She told her husband, "As soon as the child is weaned, I will take him to the house of the LORD, where he will stay all his life."

1 Samuel 1:19-22

Nine months can seem like forever for a mother-to-be. In the first trimester, hormonal changes sometimes cause lingering morning sickness and with that, emotions are always close to the surface. During the next three months, Mom outgrows her clothes and looks for new clothes. The last trimester turns normal activity into a chore as a final watch begins. And then it is all over. The waiting is over. The baby is born. Nine months becomes like yesterday's newspaper. Hannah's wait began even more slowly. For years she was unable to have a child. But the LORD remembered her, and she conceived.

God's gift of joy is worth the wait.

Our Daily Bread -October 18, 2003