An unoxthodox life: Esther

Esther is a lovely story of courage and inspiration, and highlights an important gospel principle – that each of us has a work to do. Esther finds herself in a precarious position of being crowned queen, but responsible for the safety of the Jewish people in Persia. Her adoptive father Mordecai reminds her of her great worth and place ‘who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this’

Esther’s life was not the planned pattern for a Jewish woman. She left her home, hid her heritage, married out of the faith, and was unable to practice her religion. She had to compromise some of her covenants, walk a line away from her people, give up her lineage and sacrifice her birthright.

None of these choices would have seemed appropriate or understandable to her orthodox peers, but yet we have this wonderful story and heroic life.

Esther is a story about the contradictory, the unorthodox and the unplanned in all of us. While we aim for the ‘ideal’ we will likely have something quite different happen in our lives. It may be grand, inconvenient, ostracizing, challenging, or even heartbreaking – yet in the midst we might realize our great worth and be called upon to accomplish God's miraculous purpose.

Esther becomes Queen