“ When you are a Bear of Very Little Brain, and you Think of Things, you find  sometimes that a Thing which seemed very Thingish inside you is quite different when it gets out into the open and has other people looking at it.”

 A.J. Milne, The House at Pooh Corner (1928) ch 6.

Puritan preacher Jonathan Edwards was 19 in late 1722 when he began journaling for a year his personal to-do list. Entries include:

You can read all seventy of Edwards’ resolutions here. A modern language version is here.

I admire Edwards’ desire for excellence but question the mechanism. As a bear of very little brain, I’d probably miss the moment to act while pondering which of my seventy resolutions applied.

Jesus observed of the teachers of the law and the Pharisees, “they make strict rules and try to force people to obey them, but they are unwilling to help those who struggle under the weight of their rules.”

The Hebrew Bible offered 613 commands. King David highlighted eleven in Psalm 15. Isaiah 33 identifies six. Two virtues, wisdom and respect for the Almighty, drive the Proverbs.  Micah 6 spotlights three life practices: “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” Isaiah 56 identifies two life rules: “Preserve justice and do what is right.” Amos 5 compressed the Law into one aspiration given by God: “Seek Me and live!”

Meanwhile, over in Greece, the Stoics and later Plato and Aristotle identified four ethical elements: justice, wisdom, fortitude, and temperance. They considered justice as the virtue that best benefits society. To these Church authorities added faith, hope, and love, for a total of seven “cardinal virtues”.

Elsewhere in a world not-fictional-enough, what is best in life was debated:

Outside Christianity, one finds similar reductions of life principles. The five Confucian Ideals are: Rén (仁) compassion with generosity; Yì (義) honesty with lawfulness; Lǐ  (理) respect in relationships and worship; Zhì (智)  wisdom with knowledge; and Xìn (信) faithful integrity. More links: Buddhist ideals….  Islamic Character…. “The only Hindu value of note is ahimsa (non-violence) and all moral issues can be effectively explored though it.”

In stark contrast to the Barbarian, Greek, Roman, and other proposed virtues, you surely already know that Jesus and his followers repeatedly spotlight one virtue, unselfish love.

It's diabolically indicating that the English language and several other modern languages have lost a single noun and a single verb to name unselfish love. The Greeks had ἀγάπη (pronounced ah-gah-pay). This corresponds to Hebrew אהבה  (pronounced ah-hah-vah). Agape is “the greatest of these” (1 Corinthians 13). Unfortunately, “love” can apply to ice cream or to a romantic interest; to a passing infatuation or to a lifetime of sacrifice. So Christians are apt to say “agape love” rather than the ambiguous “love”.

Jesus prioritized ἀγάπη: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

This can be stated less colorfully:

Love God with everything you have.

The giving of everything is demonstrated in the ensuing story of the Good Samaritan.

I am a bear with very little brain. My governance consists of two resolutions of two words each.

I start with a less ambiguous form of “love”: kindness. This carries a sense of gentle unselfishness; but fierce kindness exists too.  "Be kind" is too passive for my purposes. English lacks an unambiguous verb form of “kindness”, but that’s easy to fix: “Do kindness.”

As a farm boy, I tried to be kind to abandoned baby birds, forsaken bunnies, injured possums, and exploited turtles. I left many small corpses behind in the process. Thus experience tells me, kindness without discernment is not kindness. So, I add a rule 2. Here are my rules:

1. Do kindness.
2. Get discernment.

There remains the greatest treason, doing the right thing for the wrong reason. Still, discernment should confirm that the feeling of compassion is a logical precedent for sustaining kindness. Gratitude often precedes compassion. Both are more like gifts or traits sparked by observing someone else's kindness. So I take these two as my postulates, and enhance them with appropriate feelings.

In doing discernment I must reflexively, rationally, and most of all humbly recognize my continuing ignorance and need to learn. Per Socrates: “I do not think I know.” Or better, per Jeremiah:

This is the start of the book of First Samuel.

There was a certain man of Ramathaim-zophim of the hill country of Ephraim whose name was Elkanah the son of Jeroham, son of Elihu, son of Tohu, son of Zuph, an Ephrathite. 2 He had two wives. The name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other, Peninnah. And Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children.

3 Now this man used to go up year by year from his city to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord of hosts at Shiloh, where the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests of the Lord. 4 On the day when Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions to Peninnah his wife and to all her sons and daughters. 5 But to Hannah he gave a double portion, because he loved her, though the Lord had closed her womb. 6 And her rival used to provoke her grievously to irritate her, because the Lord had closed her womb. 7 So it went on year by year. As often as she went up to the house of the Lord, she used to provoke her. Therefore Hannah wept and would not eat. 8 And Elkanah, her husband, said to her, “Hannah, why do you weep? And why do you not eat? And why is your heart sad? Am I not more to you than ten sons?”

9 After they had eaten and drunk in Shiloh, Hannah rose. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat beside the doorpost of the temple of the Lord. 10 She was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly. 11 And she vowed a vow and said, “O Lord of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall touch his head.”

12 As she continued praying before the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. 13 Hannah was speaking in her heart; only her lips moved, and her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli took her to be a drunken woman. 14 And Eli said to her, “How long will you go on being drunk? Put your wine away from you.” 15 But Hannah answered, “No, my lord, I am a woman troubled in spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have been pouring out my soul before the Lord. 16 Do not regard your servant as a worthless woman, for all along I have been speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation.” 17 Then Eli answered, “Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition that you have made to him.” 18 And she said, “Let your servant find favor in your eyes.” Then the woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad.

19 They rose early in the morning and worshiped before the Lord; then they went back to their house at Ramah. And Elkanah knew Hannah his wife, and the Lord remembered her. 20 And in due time Hannah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Samuel, for she said, “I have asked for him from the Lord.”

21 The man Elkanah and all his house went up to offer to the Lord the yearly sacrifice and to pay his vow. 22 But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, “As soon as the child is weaned, I will bring him, so that he may appear in the presence of the Lord and dwell there forever.” 23 Elkanah her husband said to her, “Do what seems best to you; wait until you have weaned him; only, may the Lord establish his word.” So the woman remained and nursed her son until she weaned him. 24 And when she had weaned him, she took him up with her, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour, and a skin of wine, and she brought him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh. And the child was young. 25 Then they slaughtered the bull, and they brought the child to Eli. 26 And she said, “Oh, my lord! As you live, my lord, I am the woman who was standing here in your presence, praying to the Lord. 27 For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me my petition that I made to him. 28 Therefore I have lent him to the Lord. As long as he lives, he is lent to the Lord.”

And he worshiped the Lord there.

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Ok, welcome to the inner working of my mind.

First, I’m reminded of the passage that says, don’t be drunk with wine, but be filled with the Spirit. Check. 

The disciples in Acts 2, were also perceived as hammered. Peter has to tell the crowd that no, not alcohol, but the burden and influence of the Holy Spirit was the cause of their clearly being under an Influence. In the same way Hannah in her “all in” prayer was more concerned with connection than with decorum. God give us all of us that heart to pray. Raw. Real. Passionate. Effective.

Second, the critical path of parenthood is temporary. If you don’t release your kids back to God at some point, that will be incredibly controlling and toxic. So on one hand, Hannah giving Samuel back to God seems extraordinary, and on the other, we should all follow in her footsteps.

Third, I’m fascinated by Hannah’s motive here. This was part honest desire, part ego, part cultural importance, part a seeking to get away from humiliation in a less than ideal family situation, and part God breathed burden / prophetic desire to press into calling.

Fourth, it’s cool how God uses prayer that seems local to become a means by which He draws us into a global Mosaic and His purpose in the earth.

Fifth, don’t miss, “the Lord of Hosts” here. This is the compound name, Jehovah-Saboath and appears in verses 3 and 11. It means the Lord of Armies, both heavenly and, in some sense, earthly and speaks to God as Powerful, Commanding and Sovereign. In Hannah’s prayer, she isn’t just praying to the intimate God of Covenant in His relationship with Israel. She is also making her personal appeal to the King, to the Commander in Chief, to the One Who is in Charge of Everything.


The character of Samuel is a towering figure in the story of the Hebrew Bible. He is at the nexus of so many high level historical and spiritual junctions.

He was the last Judge, and the first to hold the formal mantle of Prophet. He brought anointing to Kings, and spoke truth to power. He stood before a shepherd boy and spoke God’s word and calling over a young David. In, what was no doubt a surprise move to the charlatan medium, God even allowed him to speak His word from beyond the grave thundering judgment and ghostly visage. Hearing the voice of God as a child, he responded, being lent to the Lord for His purpose in an extraordinary generation.

Hannah’s prayer was heartfelt, as mentioned before, and I can’t help but wonder if she knew that something was afoot beyond her own personal stake in this. That if, on some level, she knew that this child of promise was going to be something of a World Historical Individual. That nations would change trajectory at his word… that this unborn child’s destiny was of such weight and purpose that Hannah couldn’t help but be a bit overwhelmed.

Prophet. Child. Judge. The one who calls the next generation into service.

Remind you of anyone?

Hannah’s prayer and beautiful outshining of a miraculous child point us directly to the advent of Christ. In the ashes of her sorrow, the Lord remembers her and brings forth a miracle of creation to bring God’s will to earth in His purpose and through the heartbeat of a divinely purposed baby. Like our Messiah, Samuel was a surprising outshining from the God of Angel Armies. He came, not as a warrior (though he wasn’t shy to use a sword when God directed him to)… but as a teacher, a prophet and connector of God’s word and will.

That the answer to Hannah’s prayer to Jehovah-Saboath came as a baby, is just beautiful, almost beyond description. That she had the heart and wisdom and selfless sensitivity to calling to give her child back to God is beyond extraordinary. That God’s general for the hour was a little boy who stood to say, “yes Lord” in the middle of the night is just fun and cool.

Here’s the question.

Can we pray in such a way as to be the vehicle of our own answered prayers? To carry the baby we ask for? Do we have the courage and commitment to truth in God our Father to give those dreams back to God? Do we have the will to surrender our own desires and major pieces of life back to heaven to use as He will? Can we call with all of our heart to the Lord of Hosts and celebrate the answer in the form of the vulnerability of the start of a new generation of leadership?

Can we pray like this hero of the faith?