“[Ishmael's father] got up early the next morning, got some food together and a canteen of water for [Ishmael's mother], put them on her back and sent her away with the child. She wandered off into the desert….
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He lived out in the desert…. He lived in the … wilderness.” (paraphrased excerpt from the book of Genesis 21:14-16 [show] So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away. And she departed and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba. When the water in the skin was gone, she put the child under one of the bushes. Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off, about the distance of a bowshot, for she said, "Let me not look on the death of the child." And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept. (ESV))
My mother raised me with no particular notion of God. That is to say that while we celebrated Christian holidays, they were secular versions of themselves. On Christmas, we gathered around the Christmas tree and opened presents, and any particular year we may or may not have attended church. Jesus was the baby in the manger scene, but there was no explanation of who he was or why I received presents on this day from a man in a red suit with a long, white beard.
Each Easter, I woke very early to a large basket of candies and toys and then hunted Easter eggs. Again, we may or may not have attended church on any particular Easter. And, again, no explanation of why I received candies and toys on this day from a giant rabbit.
