Labor and Delivery
Mom pulled out her watch and a notepad and told me to tell her every time a new contraction rolled around. "We've got to time them."
We finished out our planned time at the Relief Sale, reasoning that walking was probably a good thing, and then we headed home. I asked Mom for the list of times.
20 minutes, 23 minutes, 12 minutes, 28 minutes, 14 minutes, 6 minutes, 32 minutes, 8 minutes...
If you know anything about pregnancy and labor, you might see something off. Birth pains are supposed to get closer together the longer you labor.
That labor with my oldest daughter was four days long (the longest four days of my life), and right up until the moment of birth, the pains still did not incrementally decrease their time stamp like they were supposed to. The same deal happened with all three of my children -- apparently, my body didn't appreciate the normal approach to labor.This morning, I read the first chapter of Exodus. I loved the story of Genesis and the formation of God's covenant with His people Israel. Exodus picks up where Genesis leaves off -- just a few years removed, somewhere between 250 to 430 years (for perspective, the United States is approximately 245 years old). Over this span of time, Joseph dies, the Pharaoh of Egypt who has known Joseph and all that he did also dies, and power passes down from one ruler to another to a new guy who has no knowledge of Joseph or the origins of the Israelites in Egypt.
All the new Pharaoh can see is that the Israelites are big... and getting bigger, and he starts to fear what might happen if there is an insurrection, or a revolt, or worse, if the Hittites (Egypt's immediate threat) attack, and the Israelites decide to join in. Egypt would be ruined (note: this is a wonderful example of a literary element called foreshadowing. The beginning chapters of Exodus are largely about Egypt's ruination).
So Pharaoh tells his people: "Look, the Israelites have become much too numerous for us. Come, we must deal shrewdly with them, or they will become even more numerous, fight against us, and leave the country" (Exodus 1:9-10).So -- as happens far too often -- when one is afraid of something, one responds with aggression (sound familiar? It's all around us). Pharaoh does exactly that: He "put slave masters over [the Israelites] to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh" (Exodus 1:11).
But Pharaoh's nefarious oppression strategy doesn't work super well. Why?
"The more [the Israelites] were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites and worked them ruthlessly."
(Completely random pun I just thought of, sorry: Why was Boaz so nice?... He wasn't Ruthless).
...
Oh dear. Where was I?
Right, so the Israelites -- rather than shrinking under the oppression and harsh treatment and conditions forced on them by the Egyptians -- actually grow in number, completely opposite expectation, almost like they are in an incubator, almost like they are planted in a greenhouse.Bloom where you are planted. I remember the principal of my oldest daughter's preschool praying this over her class at the end of the year, and it spoke strongly to me, because I had truly been struggling with the decision of whether to send her to a Christian school or to our district public school. That message resonated with me. I wanted my girl to bloom where she was planted.
Bloom where you are planted.
The Israelites -- had they returned to the Promised Land, would have faced a collective barrage of enemies on every side, threats from many different nations. Where they lived in the pocket of Goshen in Egypt, they bloomed like a prickly pear cactus in the desert sand, strong and stronger amid harsh conditions.
Until it was their time to go. Enter Moses (but not yet; this is only chapter 1).
When I was timing contractions, I didn't actually know when my daughter would come, because my contractions never did what they were supposed to do -- decrease in time until the point of birth. Similarly, the Israelites don't know when they will be released from slavery until Moses shows up one day with the message that God is going to use him and his brother Aaron to lead them out of Egypt.Meanwhile, the Israelites bloom and bloom and bloom. Have you ever seen a prickly pear's blooms? They're beautiful!
I'm not going to go into the story of the midwives, Shiphrah and Puah, found in Exodus 1, but that's a great story, too. A hard winter is here, both the seasonal kind and the emotional kind. It's a time of waiting, hoping things will get better soon.
I submit that the very same God who led the Israelites out of Egypt by His power and His might... has a plan for this Winter as well. Winter is only a season. When Spring comes, we'll be ready.
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