Childbearing and the Holy Unknown

Over at her blog MilkThistle, my lovely wife Emily reflects on the connection between the birth of our son a few days ago, and the advent season.

Birth is an experience that invariably shatters our personal illusions of control. But we still try to grab it.

Emily writes,

When it comes to pregnancy, our culture is obsessed with due dates.  Invariably if you’ve been pregnant, one of the first questions people ask is “When are you due?”  I’ve found that people aren’t quite satisfied with a general answer such as “In the fall” or “Around the holidays” or even “Late November.”  We want to know the precise day.  As our little bundle came four weeks past my initial “due date,” I can’t help but chuckle that baby Jesus arrives on the “due date” we’ve created for Him every single year without deviation.

But she also sees a source for joy in the process of letting go what we never really had in the first place.

If we let go of our expectations and embrace the sacredness of the holy unknown, that is when we find joy.  Stress, anxiety, and inner turmoil arise from our futile attempts to control what we shouldn’t try to hold in our hands.  We like to play god and when we feel the limits of our power, we panic…

Read the full post here for the full connection to the Advent season. It’s worth it.

And here’s to a woman who’s writing 3 days after an unmedicated homebirth. She’s a keeper.

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