Travail
March 15, 2009
A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world. John 16:21
Giving birth is like taking your lower lip and forcing it over your head. - Carol Burnett
Travail: painful or laborious effort; labor pains. Labor: work, especially hard physical work; the process of childbirth,the period of the start of uterine contractions to delivery. Bringing new life of any kind into the world is painful and takes effort. Even the dullest imagination can see that the concept of straining something through a hole that is 100 times smaller than the object is going to hurt! Badly.
Pregnant women are beautiful. Their skin glows, their hair grows, everyone wants to touch their rounding bellies. There is excitement and anticipation: though God also graciously allows feet swelling, back pain and mood swings so that no one is deceived into a false sense that work and pain is going to be avoided. Water breaks and contractions begin.
Contractions: the periodic tightening and relaxing of the uterine muscle. The cervix and lower part of the uterus stretch and relax allowing the baby to pass from inside the uterus through the birth canal for delivery.
When our idea is conceived, it comes as a pleasant experience. We are elated that through intimacy with Him, God has graciously chosen us to carry His vision. We tell everybody. As the ‘baby’ develops we have the splendor, and momentum of a woman with child and only a few indications that the delivery might be a bit difficult.
The closer you get to delivery, the more intense the pain and effort, and the more frequent the contractions. There is stress, then relaxation because God knows you couldn’t handle only stress! Labor is when we want to give up, just stop the pain! but it’s too late to turn back - we are fully committed.
According to the Apostle John, when your hour really comes, just the anticipation of the labor it will take to get that baby out of you is very distressing. But we must labor to deliver our dream. Labor cannot be avoided, nor can it be accomplished through lip service. For the dream comes through much effort and the voice of a fool through many words. Eccl. 5:3 (NASB)
Let’s push through the pain to delivery!
Comments
Got something to say?
