Yesterday I decided to leave my couch for awhile and venture to Cokesbury (the UMC bookstore) to try and spend the gift card Iliff gave us for graduation. I was browsing the titles when this book caught my eye:
I don't believe in signs or that things happen for a reason, but sometimes God's presence is so palpable it is almost eery. I pulled this book off the shelf and flipped it open to the following blessing:
For a Mother-to-Be
Nothing could have prepared
Your heart to open like this.
From beyond the skies and the stars
This echo arrived inside you
And started to pulse with life,
Each beat a tiny act of growth,
Traversing all our ancient shapes
On its way home to itself.
Once it began, you were no longer your own.
A new, more courageous you, offering itself
In a new way to a presence you can sense
But you have not seen or known.
It has made you feel alone
In a way you never knew before;
Everyone else sees only from the outside
What you feel and feed
With every fiber of your being.
Never have you traveled farther inward
Where words and thoughts become half-light
Unable to reach the fund of brightness
Strengthening inside the night of your womb.
Like some primeval moon,
Your soul brightens
The tides of essence
That flow to your child.
You know your life has changed forever,
For in all the days and years to come,
Distance will never be able to cut you off
From the one you now carry
For nine months under your heart.
May you be blessed with quiet confidence
That destiny will guide you and mind you.
May the emerging spirit of your child
Imbibe encouragement and joy
From the continuous music of your heart,
So that it can grow with ease,
Expectant of wonder and welcome
When its form is fully filled
And it makes its journey out
To see you and settle at last
Relieved, and glad in your arms.
Needless to say, I purchased the book immediately. =)
The blessing made me feel better. It was a gentle, loving reminder that I will not be pregnant forever. In fact, God willing, someday my son will grow up and move away from me and, perhaps, I will miss the time when he was nestled uncomfortably (but safely) below my heart (causing me extreme heartburn). So, for today, I am feeling much less hostile and more hospitable toward the tiny foot in my ribcage.
