By Rev Clifford Chisha
The day she was crowned queen was not necessarily the day she was made queen.
It was a process.
By God’s provision, Esther was made queen by her cousin Mordecai, both intentionally and unintentionally.
Unintentionally, in the sense that Mordecai just brought up Esther well before an opportunity to become a queen presented itself.
Most likely, he didn’t know exactly what she would become but he brought her up so well.
She was an obedient child.
Intentionally in the sense that Mordecai provided good guidance to Esther in a foreign land when an opportunity to become a queen presented itself.
Of course, other people were involved in the “making” of Esther but Mordecai was the key figure.
Esther 2:20
“But Esther had kept secret her family background and nationality just as Mordecai had told her to do, for she continued to follow Mordecai’s instructions as she had done when he was bringing her up.”
According to the portion of Scripture above, Esther continued to follow Mordecai’s instructions as she had done when he was bringing her up.
When Mordecai was bringing her up she used to follow his instructions and she continued doing so when she became an adult.
Now listen beloved, it is not easy to get such behaviour from a child or person you look after.
It takes real investment, good parenting skills and care.
Mordecai needed to do his part well, which he did, and Esther needed to do her part as well.
In the end, the living God used Mordecai to produce a queen who successfully rescued the Jews from annihilation.
He did not just produce a queen but a good queen who lived up to her purpose.
Are we able to do the same as parents and guardians?
Can we produce good citizens, productive and morally upright?
It’s not easy.
In this information age, parenting has been reduced to care giving.
If you just provide food, shelter, clothes and take your child to good schools and it ends there, you are simply a care giver.
You are partially doing what a parent is supposed to do.
Parenting goes beyond that, and I want to suggest that that is what Mordecai did.
Parenting involves shaping the behaviour and conduct of a child.
It also involves helping your child discover themselves and helping them prepare for the near future and distant future.
Good parenting takes keen interest not just in what your child does, but why they do what they do.
You need to know where your child goes, the type of friends they have and how they behave in your absence.
With love and in love, discipline your child when they error and provide good guidance.
All the young ones under your custody, whether they are your biological children or not, you are responsible for what they become.
Provide good parental care.
Be a parent to them and not a care giver.
Now, I guess you are now thinking that parenting is not easy. Yes, it’s not.
It demands a lot.
It is not a part time task, its full time.
Learn to divide time well.
Responsible citizens are not made in one day.
The type of church leaders, civic leaders and leaders of various organisations we have today were just made, and were not made in one day.
We often condemn the results instead of the process.
