Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
We know that the whole creation
has been groaning in labor pains;
and not only the creation, but we ourselves.
—Romans 8.22-23
You must be born from above.
—John 3.7
God is creating more of you than you have yet brought forth. Each of us often feels a yearning, a swelling of our souls, a discomfort that may feel unwelcome but is something new and holy waiting to be born from within. This new birth will require pain and struggle, but will come by the will and the help of God.
Sometimes it is we ourselves who are being born, brought through a narrow passage, a dark valley that seems to be the valley of death but is actually a birth canal. We are pushed by a force of life greater than our own will, drawn by a love beyond our capacity to know. Even difficulty imposed on us from outside us can be a means of new birth.
Sometimes we have come through such labor pains and have been brought out into a new world, in new light, held in our Mother’s arms even more intimately than we were in her womb, gazing into each other’s eyes. There are no expectations other than to be together in this moment; we don’t yet even have a name. We simply rest with God. We have been delivered.
You can’t choose which place to be; you can’t decide. As with childbirth, you can only wait and see, and work with what is. Pay attention: is there some new life stirring in you? Are your difficulties the labor pains of something sacred? Or is this not a time for pain and struggle, but a time to rest in delight with this new life God has brought forth from you? Is this a time to push, or a time to rest in your Mother’s arms, made new?
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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