birth and beyond
i have been reading christ plays in ten thousand places by eugene peterson. it is interesting. i feel kind of conflicted reading it b/c i adore his writing style, but sometimes i am thinking, what? it is really hard to explain what i mean, it is not as though he is writing about concepts that are too hard to discern, but rather he is writing about things in a way i have never thought of (hate to leave the "of" dangling, but too lazy to reword the sentence). so, in a sense it is refreshing. in another sense it is like, what? i know there is nothing new under the sun, but there is plenty new to me, i guess. i really enjoyed the beginning part of the chapter "christ plays in creation". peterson is describing how he saw his first live birth (his daughter in law's third baby) and the impact it had on him. these are some of his thoughts that i found compelling.
*"nowhere i have ever been and nothing i have ever done in God's creation rivals what i experienced in that birthing room."
*"i have climbed mountain peaks that gave me views of glaciated mountains in wave after wave of ranges, but none of those breathtaking vistas was comparable to seeing that baby enter the world."
*"Does anyone ever get used to this? i was captured by the wonder of life, the miracle of life, the mystery of life, the glory of life."
*"Birth, any birth, is our primary access to the creation work of God. Jesus' virgin birth provides and maintains the focus that God himself is personally present and totally participant in creation, which is good news indeed."
This is such good stuff. That giving/seeing birth is a moment when God's utmost creative power is experienced most fully in our pre-glory state. The profound retelling of Immanuel that each birth is, not that we give birth to a Godman, but that it calls us back to remember the birth that stands above all births, the gospel of "God with us". The doorway through which God chose to enter our world; to dwell, in flesh, with His people was the earthy, messy, beautiful, glorious process of birth. It is no wonder to me, personally, for I am in love with watching/experiencing the birth of babies. The first birth I ever watched was when I was eighteen. It was crazy and amazing. Since then, I have seen a couple and I love it. I have thought that if I had never married and had a career instead of children, I would like to be a labor and delivery nurse. To see that happen everyday, would be so great. When Whit was born there were 10+ people watching his birth and I loved it. It is such a gift to give.
On other notes, Kirsten and I ran eleven (11) miles yesterday and it was awesome. God blessed us with a great run and we were really excited and not a little sore (still).
*"nowhere i have ever been and nothing i have ever done in God's creation rivals what i experienced in that birthing room."
*"i have climbed mountain peaks that gave me views of glaciated mountains in wave after wave of ranges, but none of those breathtaking vistas was comparable to seeing that baby enter the world."
*"Does anyone ever get used to this? i was captured by the wonder of life, the miracle of life, the mystery of life, the glory of life."
*"Birth, any birth, is our primary access to the creation work of God. Jesus' virgin birth provides and maintains the focus that God himself is personally present and totally participant in creation, which is good news indeed."
This is such good stuff. That giving/seeing birth is a moment when God's utmost creative power is experienced most fully in our pre-glory state. The profound retelling of Immanuel that each birth is, not that we give birth to a Godman, but that it calls us back to remember the birth that stands above all births, the gospel of "God with us". The doorway through which God chose to enter our world; to dwell, in flesh, with His people was the earthy, messy, beautiful, glorious process of birth. It is no wonder to me, personally, for I am in love with watching/experiencing the birth of babies. The first birth I ever watched was when I was eighteen. It was crazy and amazing. Since then, I have seen a couple and I love it. I have thought that if I had never married and had a career instead of children, I would like to be a labor and delivery nurse. To see that happen everyday, would be so great. When Whit was born there were 10+ people watching his birth and I loved it. It is such a gift to give.
On other notes, Kirsten and I ran eleven (11) miles yesterday and it was awesome. God blessed us with a great run and we were really excited and not a little sore (still).
posted by courtney jewett at 10:25 AM
5 Comments:
Hi Courtney,
Found your blog and thought I'd say hi!
You had your third child five days before I had my second--a daughter, Holly Janae.
Gorgeous family. Hope Fort Worth treats you well, I know you will miss Norman. I do sometimes. But we are happy in Portland, OR, a beautiful place to live...
i thought of you guys the other day! how fun, sweet holly. glad you guys are enjoying oregon.
courtney
Thought of you guys today. As I was getting dressed this AM, the TV was on Good Morning America and they had a little segment on selling your home. Apparently, lots of folks are putting videos of their homes on YouTube. Worth trying? I dunno, They didn't talk about success rate. At least it is cheap! Any place you can get the word out is good even if the realtor already has a video on their site.
and her is an actual cmment on your blog post- Yes, birth is amazing. I had mine C-section as they were both in dangerous situations but I think a great job would be as a doula. Less schooling and all of the fun of delivery.
keep reading.
Post a Comment
<< Home