Through labour
Through labour
It is not an easy task to carry a baby, go through labour and then raise it. Birthing a child is literally called labour, because that is what it is, a great labour. I knew all of this before going in and yet somehow I had no idea. I still have little idea what it is and was like for Mary Anne my wife. It feels like in its intensity it is more work than I have put into anything in my life, even though definitively I spend more hours working or sleeping.
It is utterly astonishing what this labour gets though. What you meet along the way. Even the first few kicks, the growing belly, the crying baby, the first bits of skin to skin, the beautiful but undefined sack of potatoes (It was a silly way we talked when he was just born), then as he makes these amazing and simple discoveries and growths as an interactive human.
I relate this to my life though and I see that it has always been this way. It was through great labour that almost all of my greatest memories have come. Sometime my own purposeful labour and work, sometimes what was thrust upon me and I accepted, or through the labour and struggle that I had no choice over. Whether it was my improvement in school, the first performance I saw change people’s hearts, hearts changed for Christ or many other profound moments of labour.
It reminds me of God’s curse (or really the natural consequence) as a result of Adam and Eve eating the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. The result is that there is increased labour in childbirth and by blood and sweat we will produce the fruit of the ground. This is a broader consequence then simply taking those two things at face value though. It is meant to say that through great labour, struggle and sacrifice we will actually bear fruit.
Sure this world is full of creation that puts in and uses very little labour. The industrial era, automation, copywrite and so many other things have created and find bounty without much work at all. We could say this is an exception to the rule and maybe in a perfect world this could have helped us find a way as humanity closer to the garden, but I think the truth is that this hasn’t made humanity in general any more productive or fruitful in Godly terms, in fact it might have meant the opposite. We have become consumers rather than real producers or it has separated people or it has belittled people (even in their wealth or lack).
I still find that the greatest achievements, the greatest joys, the greatest fruit comes through great struggle, through labour, pain and sacrifice. We could look at many of the church father’s (which were women too), or Mother Teresa and see people who purposefully entered into struggle to really make a difference for others and in their relationship with God.
I guess I say all of this because it is important to note: suffering is not bad unto itself. Even that suffering we don’t choose. We shouldn’t shy away from it. Looking back I wouldn’t take away most of my greatest suffering because in hindsight I can see the amazing ways God used it. God can do amazing and wonderful things through our suffering. We can join him in the work of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross in some profound and mysterious ways.
When it is thrust upon us and we have no choice it is important to be patient through it and watch for how God is redeeming it in you.
If it is layed before you, don’t shy away from it. Don’t respond in fear and run away from it. Face it and purposely enter in. I don’t believe all suffering is from God, but if we enter in with his heart and eyes we can see how we can be fruitful through it.
More often then all of this suffering should be something we choose. When we choose to suffer for a friend or family member, we build relationships that we and they long for. When we suffer to find a job or to make one truly fruitful for God it has lasting consequences for the infestructure and people around us. When we suffer for strangers, we have an opportunity to be Christ in their midst and literally share him (in word and deed). When we suffer to grow in our relationship with God we can barely imagine the gifts, opportunities and life that he gives back. I think the story of the prodigal son is just in the beginning of this story, but it does point the way.
What I often find is that in all of these cases they were not truly sacrifices at all.
