A Far Green Country

I really don’t have any clue what the true meaning of that passage is. It is obvious from the whole of Scripture that child-birth or any other work will not reconcile you to God. But that passage, as mysterious as it is to me, has provoked my thought over the last week or so.

Just over 2 weeks ago we had our first child, a son named Luke. For 9 months I watched as my wife selflessly used her body to share with Luke while he ate from her, grew, and formed in her womb. As she got bigger sleep became harder to come by & in the final weeks, just existing was uncomfortable as she was stretched to her limit of existing skin!

Now, as Luke is here, I’ve watched with amazement as she feeds him every 3 hours from her own body. This means if a feeding takes an hour, as it can with our son who likes to take breaks when feeding, that she has at max 2 hrs before he’s latched on again. It is a joy for her to do, but nonetheless painful at times, & there are days when he wants to eat every 2 hrs. This schedule doesn’t stop just because it’s 2 am or 4 am, so not only is she giving her body, her time, but she’s sacrificing her sleep too. Again – she’s awesome – she wouldn’t speak of it as sacrificing or hard but would simply tell you it can be taxing.

My role has been to try & do everything for her I can so that she can be the mother she needs to be at such a young stage for Luke. That means doing laundry, the dishes, simply being the one that makes the bed, cooking sometimes, cleaning up the kitchen after meals, grocery shopping, errand running, trash collecting, diaper changing, getting Luke awake & ready to eat, taking him for an hour or 2 so she can get some much needed rest during the day & not be worn out doing the other less important stuff.

But what has blown my mind about doing all those little things (& don’t get me wrong, she’s still doing plenty of it herself) is that she has been the one that has primarily done those things over the last 5 years while I finished up undergrad & now seminary. Not only that, she did all that & held a full-time job to put me through school. Only now, while I’m trying to serve her in the ways she’s served me, have I been able to truly appreciate all she did for me to allow me to obey God’s calling. It has been a joy as I realized the sacrifices she’s made for me to be able to do all these little things – which I usually hate in & of themselves – but in the Spirit am finding great satisfaction from doing because the giver gets the joy.

What does all this have to do with the Scripture passage above? As I realize exactly what my wife did to free me up for school – as I watch my wife sacrifice & give of her body in carrying a child, the physical pain of having a child, the task of feeding a child from your own flesh, the loss of sleep to care & love the child when he’s hungry – I think that maybe one of the reasons childbirthing can carry the language of salvation close to it is because of how Christ-like it is. I’m not saying it’s the point of the text above, but think of how very Christ-like it is to carry, have, then mother a child. You give up your life for the life of another, you give of your very flesh & blood for them, you die to your rights of sleep, recreation, self for the betterment of the one you now love & would your very life for. Maybe the use of the word “saved” has something to do with the fact that the very role of women in motherhood, in “childbearing,” is so selfless, so God-glorifying, & so Christ-exemplifying, that it is an evidence of a life reborn.

So to my wife & to my mother – I’m finally learning your love for us over all these years Mama – & to my baby sister Rachel who is raising her first as well, I wish you a Happy, Happy Mother’s Day. You have all my love, admiration, & respect.