The Womb

I'm feeling nostalgic today. Eleven years ago, I was very pregnant with my first baby. Ten years ago, I was pregnant again. And eight years ago... And seven years ago (even though I didn't know it yet!). Obviously from the time frame, I haven't been pregnant for a while. =) Shorty and I celebrated our anniversary this weekend, and one of the things we did was listen to a few sessions from this year's Gospel Coalition conference. The session over the first two chapters of Luke got me started thinking about the "womb". That word-- for whatever reason-- makes me think of softness, and warmth, and safety. As opposed to its scientifically correct counterpart, uterus, which makes me think of dry, sterile, and lifeless...

I've got several friends who are in the midst of growing little ones right now, and I haven't forgotten the "can't sleep", "can't eat", "can't breathe" feelings of late pregnancy. Or the "want-to-throw-up", "tired-all-the-time" feelings of early pregnancy. But I've just been marveling at the MIRACLE of conception and birth that we as women have the privilege to be a part of! We know SO MUCH now about the way that babies develop in the womb, that the miracle can seem mundane. But marvel with me today at the way that God takes a small piece of a man and a small piece of a woman and creates a WHOLE NEW PERSON! And God chose, in His infinite wisdom, to equip us especially for the task of growing and nurturing new life!

For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.
Psalms 139:13-14

And once upon a time, God the Father sent God the Son to become a man...

And the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end."
Luke 1:30-33
 
In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah, and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she exclaimed with a loud cry, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.
Luke 1:39-44
 
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 1:14