cut, torn, broken and changed when a new life enters this world. The umbilical cord, the mama, the placenta, the male baby, the feeding process--all these things are hurt in order for them to heal. Some of the pain is necessary and unavoidable, some of it must be learned and corrected through experience. I think birth is a great introduction to life-with life comes pain; and yet with life comes healing! God is so amazing in the whole process of life. I remember when Scotty and I got married and I was so overwhelmed with the correlation between marriage and my relationship with God. Marriage must be intentional, but the reality is, most of the time, we are just two people committed to doing life together and we interact on a real level, not a superspiritual high. It's the same with God. He's not into the, "how long do you pray, are you going to church, did you read the Bible today," just like Scotty is not judging our relationship on the time that I talked to him on the phone, or how often I go to his work, or how many times I reread his letters. Our quality of our relationship is measured by the intimacy and connectedness in every day life from making his lunches to kissing him when he comes in the door to chatting about nothing at supper to playing flag football alongside him. The serious side comes into play too because if we are not on the same page about finances, or kids, or activities or sleep then we are disconnected. This is how my relationship with God is-God cares about us on a daily basis and He wants us to be connected to Him; which simple means acknowledging Him throughout the day and chatting with Him as I would Scotty. Stay with me, this is going back to the baby.
So just as marriage pointed me to God, so has
motherhood. What is it that God told Adam and Eve at the very beginning "Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea, the birds in the air and every living creature that crawls on the earth. Here! Throughout the whole earth I am giving you as food every seed-bearing plants...(see Genesis 1:28-31 for the rest). Later on after Adam and Eve disobeyed, God addressed these two things again: multiply and food. He said that
the pain of childbirth would increase (and boy was He not lying!) and that we would have to work hard to eat from it (the land) as long as we lived. Anyone want to second that. I mean, childbirth is painful and we are all working hard in order to survive, especially in the current state that we are in. God came through on His word! But that isn't even where I am going with this. Motherhood has pointed me to God, because within it I am fulfilling one of the roles that God has for me. It is amazing to sit back and enjoy Carter and love on him and care for him and know that this is who God made me to be. I don't have to be immersed in Bible study or committed to hours of prayer to be near God; I just have to care for my child because that is what God has called me to do. And then I love this! "They heard the voice of Adonai, God, walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze" Genesis 3:8. The idea is that throughout the day we fulfill our role as humans, whatever it is from caring for children or working to put food on the table and then in the evening God comes over to take a stroll with us. He just wants to chat to see how your day was, to offer His assistance, to hang out. Marriage. motherhood and God. It's a good lesson.
Don't pressure yourself in the midst of a chaotic life to have the perfect relationship with God or have your life all put together. Learn to talk to God here and there. For me, it's as a change a diaper of 8th time today or feed Carter (that's a whole lot of time) or as I fix dinner or clean the toilets. It's not long; it's not fancy; it's just me talking to the greatest God ever. And He loves it when I'm real, just me and Him.
Carter is sleeping now, oblivious to the world around him. He doesn't know real life yet, how hard it is, but he does experience some pain, which is preparing him for life. His umbilical cord still has to fall off, so the cold of the alcohol brings screams to his mouth still. And his little broken clavicle still hurts if I pick him up wrong (yes, I try not to). His head has totally healed from being scraped and squeezed during delivery, his circumcision has healed. So in his short life, he has already experienced healing!
How amazing that with life comes pain, but also healing and we can get that from day 1. The problem we have though later on in life, is that after we've been hurt, we never allow ourselves to experience healing. I cannot tell you how many people I know, including myself for a long time, allowed the pain and hurt of the past to continually fester up and impact their todays. When something is injured physically it takes time and rest and sometimes the help of others to heal. We need to do the same for emotional and mental hurts. God showed us how to handle life. We cannot live pain-free, but we can live full of healing! May we all find healing in the coming weeks!
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