Fruit of the Womb

Have you ever heard a woman say "I hated being pregnant" ?

I overheard a young mother say this a while back. She was a young, missionary wife, with a sweet 7 or 8 month old baby. I have to say that I was greatly taken aback by her words.

Now let me just say here, I do not have the nicest pregnancies. I have "morning sickness", almost from the moment of conception, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for the first 3-4 months. The last 2-3 months I have pinched nerves and severe joint pain in my pelvic region. And I am usually way more than ready to be done by 8 months. It's no cake walk.

But I love it. I love carrying life inside me. I love knowing the Lord has blessed me with another life to nuture. It is amazing. It is a priveledge not a curse. To hear a woman say she hates the one thing that so totally defines being a woman, makes me sad. In todays world we often treat pregnancy as a "disease". Something to be endured, dealt with, gotten through. We put women in the hospital, plugged in to machine after machine, hooked up to IVs and monitors, flat on their backs and drugged out of their minds, all to do THE most natural thing in the world: give birth. No wonder some women dislike it so. The beauty and wonder and pure joy has been sucked away by the world.

I know many women who have their "1.7 children" one right after the other to "get it over with". The pregancies, the babyhood, toddlerhood, potty training. They just want it all behind them. That is so sad. It is such a joyfilled season of life. To be able to create and carry life inside you. To have that tiny little person who needs you for everything. To spend the special bonding time nursing that child. To watch them grow and change and look to you for everything. To have the chance to teach a brand new human being who Jesus is and what he did for them. That is a time truly, to be treasured. Not "gotten over with".

I look around me at all the young women who have been taught that motherhood is just a lowly position. Not to be compared with a career or your place in the "world". I am saddened and heart broken for what these women are losing. All they are missing out on. To bring life into the world, to nurture and train a child up in the way of the Lord; there is no higher calling. There is no better blessing. Children are a gift from the Lord. Large families once were considered a blessing. To be childless was a burden and a disgrace. How far we have come from those days.

If you are a young woman or you know a young woman who may be caught up in the ways of the world, encourage her to seek out the Lord. Encourage her to read God's word on children and families. If you know/are a young woman who is family minded and ready to be blessed by the Lord be steadfast. Stay in God's word and don't let the world distract you. Children are a blessing from the Lord.

Psalm 127:3,4,5

Behold, children are a gift of the Lord,

The fruit of the womb is a reward.

Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,

So are the children of one's youth.

How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them

Blessings.