the great travail
First of all, my apologies for not blogging for several days. Secondly, this is going to be my last post this month. Writing every day is exhausting for me on a mental, emotional, and spiritual level. When you add in the circumstances of every day life on top of that, my heart and soul are drained, so I am going to take a short break and allow myself to be restored. Thank you for reading my words and for the encouragement I have received from so many. I'm blessed that you find encouragement in what I write. And now for my last post of this writing month.
When a woman is in labor, the French call it travail, which loosely translated means "hard work." Yesterday in the small hours of the morning, my beautiful sister finished her travail to bring a new life into the world. A little before one A.M. yesterday morning, my precious niece, Edith Margaret, was born. From the pictures I have seen she is beautiful, precious, and spunky. I can't wait to hold her in my arms and speak over her all the blessings that this proud auntie has to give.
The night before, as my sister was travailing, I was witnessing another travail. I sat in a hospital ICU room with other members of my family as we witnessed my grandpa travailing to pass through to the great reward of faithful servants, eternal life with the King. Yesterday afternoon, he finished his travail, and he passed into the joy of His Master.
Both of these situations contain joy and birth and new life. The life comes at the expense of the travail. The end of one travail is a precious baby. The end of the other is death leading to eternal life. I cannot express the range of emotions that I feel witnessing both of these together.
As I struggle to comprehend, my heart is drawn back to another travail. A travail which ended in a death. But it was not a fruitless travail because it too brought life. Indeed, it was that travail upon a cross that brought us abundant and eternal life because the death was followed by resurrection. Death, the great consequence of sin, is overcome. Life reigns victorious because the Life Giver is faithful.
When a woman is in labor, the French call it travail, which loosely translated means "hard work." Yesterday in the small hours of the morning, my beautiful sister finished her travail to bring a new life into the world. A little before one A.M. yesterday morning, my precious niece, Edith Margaret, was born. From the pictures I have seen she is beautiful, precious, and spunky. I can't wait to hold her in my arms and speak over her all the blessings that this proud auntie has to give.
The night before, as my sister was travailing, I was witnessing another travail. I sat in a hospital ICU room with other members of my family as we witnessed my grandpa travailing to pass through to the great reward of faithful servants, eternal life with the King. Yesterday afternoon, he finished his travail, and he passed into the joy of His Master.
Both of these situations contain joy and birth and new life. The life comes at the expense of the travail. The end of one travail is a precious baby. The end of the other is death leading to eternal life. I cannot express the range of emotions that I feel witnessing both of these together.
As I struggle to comprehend, my heart is drawn back to another travail. A travail which ended in a death. But it was not a fruitless travail because it too brought life. Indeed, it was that travail upon a cross that brought us abundant and eternal life because the death was followed by resurrection. Death, the great consequence of sin, is overcome. Life reigns victorious because the Life Giver is faithful.
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