I’ve been thinking a lot about labor as our little girl’s arrival into the world gets near. It was a very overwhelming experience with Charlie. And while there were many lovely things I remember about it, the intensity of the experience took me so very much by surprise, that I didn’t do a lot of choosing what I thought about. At one low point, I was even imagining that my contractions were ocean swells, going over my head and that my nose was only high enough to stick out to breathe in the troughs between them. Not good. It is scary facing it again.
It is also exciting facing it again. I learned a lot about what I need in labor, especially the importance of having positive, true words being spoken to me. I’d like my attitude to be different this time. Most importantly I would like to try to pray my way through this labor in an intentional way. Instead of getting lost in the downward spiral of focusing on the pain of my contractions, I’d like to choose to worship with my husband and rely on the Lord. I’ve been asking the Lord to prepare my heart. To give me verses from Scripture and mind pictures that I can cling to when our time comes.
So imagine my surprise (and gratitude—the Lord really does speak through little children!) when I wandered past Charlie drawing at his easel this morning. I stood silently behind him while he drew a big circle and then a tiny circle inside of it. He told me “wittle tiny circle, wittle tiny baby sistuh.” Then he drew another circle next to these and announced, “Jesus.” Then he moved his crayon over and said “storm” while he violently scribbled and made roaring sound effects.
I know he was thinking of the story of Jesus in the boat and storm with the disciples, because we have talked about it a lot after reading it in his picture Bible. But baby sister inside of another bigger circle, right next to Jesus? That was all him! I assumed I was the bigger circle around baby sister until I asked him to explain his drawing for the camera and got an even better answer!
