Two Births

There is an African proverb that says that two births take place at the moment of delivery - that of the baby and that of the mother.  After a lot of thought, I can see what the proverb is getting at.  Life is never the same again following the birth of a child, and even physiologically the woman is transformed through the process in ways that will not be reversed, from hip size to brain chemistry.  The simple fact is that before I had a child, there were things - biologically, psychologically, even spiritually - I just didn't need.  And once it is time for child to come, I entered into a new reality in which the old me wasn't sufficient for what is happening.  In that moment of transformation, God has it set up so that everything I needed suddenly became available.  I've noticed that these new provisions continue as the child gets older.  I know moms who say they were never any good with this or that age group, but then when their child got to be that age, they suddenly were able to work with kids that age.  Likewise, things I can do now, like nurse, I won't be able to do anymore once the child no longer needs it.  

Sometimes, when I look into the future - not necessarily with regard to being a mom, but just generally - I'm tempted to get worried.  Retirement income.  College tuition.  Job decisions.  Buying a house.  Having more kids.  The list goes on and on, and any one of these things is enough to hit my stomach with some force.  But then I remember that God has never, never, not once, left me without what I need in the exact moment when I need it.  Never.  In addition to the many times I have seen this throughout my young adulthood as I have followed Christ, it is one of the lessons of parenthood.  Two years ago, I couldn't make milk.  Today, it pours out of my body, because there is someone who needs it from me.  It is the way God has designed the universe to work.  Thanks be to God who gives us our daily bread.