When I was pregnant with my first baby everyone asked, “Do you want a boy or a girl?” I would smile and say something politically correct like, “Well, it really doesn’t matter, but it would be fun to have a girl.”
I really wanted a girl. Like I really, really wanted a girl. So much so that I prayed and asked God to give me a girl.
I grew up in a family that loved to play board games together. Every year we would all anticipate a new board game under the Christmas tree. The times of playing together as a family were always fun. There was sure to be laughter in learning the rules of a new game and excitement in playing it. My mother almost always won.
However, there is one particular game I learned to play as a very young girl. It is one I continue to play today. It isn’t enjoyable. It isn’t exciting. And I never win. No one wins at this game.
Welcome to ‘The Comparison Game”.
My lifetime has not been childless. I was only without a child for a season, even though I didn’t know at the time that it would only be for a season. So I don’t write this prayer with any sense of truly knowing what’s it’s like to never have a biological or adoptive child. I write this prayer out of my own past memories on Mother’s Day and the feelings I felt. I write this prayer because my heart aches for those of you who do not have children, for whatever reason, and who desperately want them. This is the prayer I’m praying for you.
Mother’s Day is tomorrow, and I feel I should write something about motherhood and being a mom because I’m a writer and I have a blog, so isn’t that what I should do? Not to mention I found out just this past Wednesday that I’m having another girl and today we decided on her name.
But to be honest I have nothing more to say about motherhood. Everything has already been said.
Motherhood seems so cliché.
This is part 2 of the article “How to Live in True Community as the Body of Christ.” Be sure to read part 1 here.
As God is teaching me to be more attentive to the rest of the body, I would like to share with you some simple steps we can take.
I confess. I am living as an island.
Many of us do it. We go to church with plastic smiles and act like everything is ok. We don’t want to admit that our lives are messy or overwhelming or sinful, so we cut ourselves off and don’t allow anyone to connect with us. What’s more, we don’t make much of an attempt to connect with others either.
