The insider's secret to Jesus' enduring the trial and the cross...looking past the pain. The writer of Hebrews expressed it this way, "Who, for the joy set before Him, endured the cross despising the shame..."Perhaps you recall reading this last month on the Faith e-mail update:
Chad & Danielle Parker are praising the Lord for the safe arrival of their baby girl on Friday, February 12th. Kate Marie was born at 12:54pm, measuring 20 inches and weighing 7lbs 6oz. Everyone is happy and healthy, including siblings Evan, Levi, and Mia. Visitors are welcome to visit at Saint Elizabeth after 5:00pm today.
One of the great delights of our 17 years together as a church family has been the regular and frequent addition of babies to our nursery. It happens all the time, and we celebrate every one. In fact, as a church family, we begin the celebration when the pregnancy is revealed. So much excitement accompanies these announcements. But I wonder if these young couples have really given serious consideration to what now lies between their present excitement and the joy of bringing that new little one to church for the first time? I mean, we're talking hormones, weird food cravings, weight-gain, physical discomforts in multiple forms...did I mention hormones? And then the waiting. Linda has exhorted me never to ask an obviously "expecting" mother when the baby is due...says that is rude and irritating. But there is the waiting. The frequent line is, "I am ready for this to be over with!" Did I mention the hormones?
You ever attend one of those classes where the expectant parents are instructed in the process of delivery? Or pause in your channel surfing to take in a bit of "Birth Stories"? You can trust me on this...it is not pretty! I mean...we are talking pain, impatience, momentary terror, angry outbursts, tenderness, more pain... Has the happy young couple REALLY considered the cost of the joy of bringing that newborn baby to church for the first time?
Yet, in spite of the sorrow and trials of pregnancy and painful delivery, the squirming baby wrapped up in that new receiving blanket is worth it all! (It had better also be wearing a "onesie" under its new outfit if you don't want to have to deal with my wife! :) What seemed like an impossible, never-to-end process is forgotten in the joy of holding this miraculous new life!
"Whenever a woman is in travail she has sorrow, because her hour has come; but when she gives birth to the child, she remembers the anguish no more, for joy that a child has been born into the world." John 16:21
It arrested my attention and remained burned in my memory. I had to pull the announcement back up and read it again. "Kate Marie was born at 12:54 pm... Visitors are welcome to visit at Saint Elizabeth after 5:00pm today."
"She remembers the anguish no more, for joy that a child has been born..." The insider's secret to Jesus' enduring the trial and the cross? Looking past the pain...
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