Insights of Motherhood

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I know I am not the only one who experiences this, but sometimes I will be in the midst of living an ordinary day and I will suddenly have an insight that brings clarity to a passage of the Bible that I have read over and over again.

Three examples since becoming a mother:

1) If our front door is open, you can see all of our living room and at least half of our bedroom. With the floor to ceiling mirror on the opposite wall, people standing at our door can even see into our kitchen (and if our mirrored closet doors are shut, all of our bedroom is visible, too). Mirrors help make the space look larger, but they also have a few downsides. One of the few things blocking our floor to ceiling mirror is CutieBabyBoy's bed. So when our front door opens and light streams in from the hallway, it is as if a spotlight has been trained on his bed.  This makes it rather difficult to open the front door without disturbing his sleep. So when a neighbor came knocking during nap time, suddenly what I had always read as a poor, selfish excuse in Luke 11:5-8 turns into gospel truth.

Luke 11:5-8 (ESV)

And he said to them, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; and he will answer from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything’? I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs.

Even though I may imagine all sorts of harm befalling the unlucky soul who chose this moment to request my attention, if they are persistent, the threat of my baby waking up while I see to their request seems less threatening than that of ignoring the neighbor any longer.

2) News stories about horribly negligent or abusive mothers have always taken the surety out of the promise in Isaiah 49:15.

Isaiah 49:15 (NIV)
Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!

Sure, there is that disclaimer about even if a mother can forget, God will not, but still...  Not to mention the number of times in those first tired months where I could fall asleep with CutieBabyBoy sleeping in my arms and startle awake to realize he was still there. Probably due to my somewhat extreme sense of what is proper and improper to speak about, I'd always read this verse equating the line "at her breast" to be synecdoche, merely poetic language to speak of the baby's relationship with its mother. And then one day, when I was trying to get some sleep while my little boy refused to be done with nursing, I tried to still his kicking feet and his partially-conscious swatting of my face and body, and I thought to myself, "I'm never going to get any sleep as long as this little boy is attached." And therein struck the epiphany. When the child is actively nursing, it is much less likely that he will be forgotten!

3) On a slightly less profound note, Luke 2:19 says "But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart (NIV)." I've come to realize that the obvious truth in this statement is because she had no digital camera or Facebook account to help her in the treasuring and the pondering.

Comments

Vicki Carroll said…
"Treasuring them in your heart" is a much better place than on the computer or in the digital camera or even the photo album. All those places can become corrupted or ruined, but the memories of my children (and now my grandchildren) that I have consciously "burned" into my memory are precious indeed. I love you Beck!
7:06 PM
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