Last night Nathan and I had an infant care class. We made a fun evening out of it. We went out to eat. Every time another "one" would hit me I just excused myself from the table and walked the bathroom (sitting through them hurts so much worse than walking). We sat close to the back door of the conference room where the class was held. When "one" hit, I'd just walk out and listen from outside. With these practice contractions as long as I can move I'm okay. Nathan feels pretty helpless, but he DOES help! He's very calm (now that my bags are packed ;) and sympathetic. I think his excitement is contagious as well.
Since they've been on my mind lately...I've been thinking about how birth pains are mentioned throughout the Bible. The first is in the beginning (Genesis 3:16). Increased birth pains are the result of sin. How gracious God is! I'm a sinner, and though I ONLY deserve pain, He uses the pain to bring one of life's sweetest blessings...a child.
Birth pains are also spoken of symbolically. During Jesus' intimate teaching time with his disciples in the second half of the Gospel of John, the disciples' grief is compared to birth pains. They're grieved because Jesus tells them that He will leave, but He tells them that their grief will turn to joy because His crucifixion is NOT the end!
John 16:20-22
"I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy."
There is no joy compared to knowing Jesus...knowing He is in control...knowing that He has covered my sin.
Even these early contractions are mentioned.
Matthew 24:3-8
As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”
Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.
I remember, when Nathan and I went to Israel, taking a picture of the sky just above the Mount of Olives and thinking "this literally is where Jesus will return one day." We CANNOT know the day or hour of His return (the Bible is very clear...Matthew 24:36), but we can recognize these painful events as signs that His return is imminent.
I'm finding this interesting too (as I'm standing here typing and swaying from side to side), the rest of Matthew 24 and 25 is Jesus' warning to ready ourselves. Just like Nathan kept warning me with each little pain to pack and get ready, Jesus warns that we must be ready for His return.
Maybe I'm awake right now because I need to be reminded not to just wait. I need to be readying my heart. Baby Joshua IS coming, but most importantly, Jesus will return. May I constantly be reminded.
What a beautiful post, Katherine! I'm going to have to remember to read this when baby number 2's time is near. I also liked your post earlier this week because it reminded me of when Barrett was born. I went in for extra monitoring once because I couldn't feel him and we also went for a false alarm when we thought my water broke around 38 weeks. It gave us a peace about our hospital as well and when my water really broke a week later we were old pros and took our time getting to the hospital (I wasn't having many contractions so we had time). Praying for you and Nathan during this special time!
ReplyDeletePraying that you are able to get some rest in the coming days!! Love your post, as always!
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