motherhood

In pain, you will bring forth children. - Genesis 3:16

Read: Genesis 3

Just for a moment try to picture the garden of Eden. Although we are deep in the barren winter months, can you imagine the sights, sounds, and smells of that luscious oasis? Take a deep breath, smell the intoxicating fragrances, feel the warm sunshine on your skin, look and see Eve standing flawlessly, her toes buried in the whispering grass. But she is not alone. Stealthily creeping, the enemy approaches, ready to cast shadows and inflict darkness. With four little words, “Did God actually say…” the enemy planted the seed of doubt in Eve, and it took such a deep root within her that it has endured and spread to each of our hearts.  Why did Eve listen to that voice? Through Eve’s doubting, pain was born. “In pain you shall bring forth children.” 

Is it just me or does that punishment seem weird and oddly specific? I mean, how often does a woman give birth in her lifetime?  I can’t imagine that squeezing a tiny human out of another human could be anything but painful. Plus, the pain is temporary and totally worth it. Once you hold your baby in your arms, there is a moment of perfect peace, and all is well. “We have sufferings now, but these are nothing compared to the great glory that will be given to us.” (Rom 8:18) Consider for a moment that the pain of childbirth is a preparation for motherhood. 

Motherhood is excruciatingly beautiful and gut-wrenching, marvelously sublime, yet there is also a stripping of the former, an emptying, a rawness, a painful change.  Through parenting, one can see the best and worst in themselves. As any parent can tell you, parenting is painful and hard. Pain is something we don’t enjoy experiencing. But, what if pain was a preparation for what is to come? A calling to change? Although pain (particularly in childbirth) was born as a consequence of Eve’s disobedience, what if, in God’s mysterious mercy, it was actually for our good? After all, what the enemy meant for evil, God is working for our good. 

C.S. Lewis writes, “Pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to our consciences, but shouts in our pains. It is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” Can you hear Him? 

In today's image, we see  how God brings wholeness to something once broken. Although Eve brought pain in childbirth, God uses the pain of childbirth to bring forth our Lord and Savior. Through the birth of Jesus Christ, we have hope and forgiveness of sin. Through pain on the cross, God brings redemption and glory! 

In your doubts and pain, what voices are you going to listen to? God is speaking; are you willing to listen? What beautiful things have been birthed through your pain?