Preparing for Labor Day {Another Divine Analogy}
This post is part of our series, Grace for the Pregnant Mom. You can see all our posts here.
As any pregnant woman knows, you become a ticking time bomb as you reach full term and begin preparing for labor day.
Every ache and pain elicits a sideways glance from your husband who is wondering, “Is this it?”
People start letting you go in front of them in the checkout line because they don’t want to hold up your labor. I mean, you are sure you aren’t carrying twins aren’t you?
Your friends stop asking you to go on play dates because “you need to stay close to home…you know, just in case.”
And the dime size potty break you just took was the let down of the century. You were so sure you REALLY had to go!
The end of pregnancy reminds me, in a tangible way, of what it is like to wait upon the return of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
During my last days of pregnancy, I have found my praises for God dwindling and the complaints to again take the forefront of my thoughts and words.
My prayers have revolved mostly around me and my desire to be relieved of this process. My desire to meet my child. My desire to have my reward for all of this hard work and waiting. My desire to feel that last push and the pain to just float away as if it never existed.
I look forward to that day, that moment when I meet my baby face-to-face.
As good as it is to long to be a mother again, it is never good to long for that more than the glory of God.
I am convicted of my circumstantial praises to God. The Psalmist, who seemed to constantly be in hard circumstances, never ceased to praise God. He learned like Paul in the New Testament to be content in any circumstance always praising and giving thanksgiving to God (Philippians 4:11-13). Me on the other hand … I have not.
Psalm 71:14 says, “But I will hope continually and will praise you yet more and more.”
In my last days of pregnancy, I am tempted to grow weary of this incredibly slow process.
The truth is that I want to be through. I want my reward. I want to just know when all the hard work will pay off.
However, we do not know the hour or the time that this little baby will make his or her appearance. We have sign posts along the way such as contractions and the mere fact that no woman stays pregnant forever, but we do not know exactly when that time will come. I must be ready. I must be rested. I must be prepared. I must be alert. For the contractions can increase intensity at any given time!
The same is true of the coming of Christ.
We do not know the hour at which He will come. But we have His promise that He is coming. He will come like a thief in the night. We must be ready. We must not waste our time here on earth. His return is a promise – a much bigger promise than the delivering of my baby (Matthew 24:36-51).
Just as the pains of delivery will all be worth it when my baby makes his or her debut, all of the pains of this life will be worth it when we look into the face of that which is fully man and fully God. All the pain and suffering will cease. All the heart ache and hard work will make sense. On that day, our reward will be sweet.
So, as we hope and pray and wait for the coming of baby Dutton, let us not fail to praise God and hope and pray and watch for the coming of Christ too. Let us bring much glory to God as we sing His praises and wait upon him to fulfill all of His promises.
Pregnancy has taught me much about God and His amazing work. You might also like these posts:
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