Birth stories are some of my favorite stories to hear and see and think about. Every single person on the planet has a story of birth whether they know it or not. Each story is unique and different. There is not a birth story without pain. There is not a birth story without a man, a woman, and a baby. It takes all three to make one birth story. Two people become one to make another one and then 9 months later the mother brings forth another body from her body and what was once all in one, is now two, or three, or more if the mother is carrying multiples. Birth stories are unique and amazing and hard. None of it makes sense, or adds up to the kind of equation we can solve with a formula, or a perfect plan.
What Do You Know About Your Own Birth?
Think about any birth story that you know. Think about your own? What do you know about your story? How do you know or why do you not know? Babies are born vulnerable and unable to do anything but cry. People only get to know what they are told, and maybe they are never told anything, about their own birth. Babies don’t remember how they felt, or what they saw and heard as they were being brought into this world. Babies can’t communicate their needs, but they have a lot of needs to keep them alive.
Now…..in light of all that babies don’t know, can’t control, or decide about their birth story and the fact that every living and dead human being has a birth story, think about what Jesus told Nicodemus when he told him nobody would see the kingdom of God without being “born-again”. This time he was talking about being born of the spirit but he still used the word born. He didn’t say be enlightened or educated or make a decision, he used the word BORN and he spoke it to a man, not a woman. This word to Nicodemus can’t be confused with “birthing” but was clear about being born.
Everyone Has To Be Born To Live
I love that Jesus used a word that all people for all time would be a part of. We all have been born. One way or another, one time or another, we were born. Known and unknown, it is a part of our story.
Maybe we have made being born of the spirit as clinical and mathematical as we have tried to make birth. We want it quick and clean with no pain, no noise, no fuss, no mess. We want a child born on our time-line within our control in our schedule. We also want people to be born-again, when we want, how we want, with no mess, no fuss, no noise; just be born-again, and move on with your life. What we forget is when a baby is born and reborn, they don’t know their needs. They don’t know how to stay alive. Babies are born and people are born again and it takes time and a lot of care to learn, grow and live beyond your “birth-day”.
Being Born and Born-Again Changes Everything
That’s the thing about birth and rebirth….it changes everything. You breathe differently, you move differently, you experience life differently than you did before you were born and also reborn. Once you are born and born-again, you can’t go back to what and where you once knew and felt safe and comfortable. You have changed forever, no matter how long you live, you will never go back to living like you did before you were born, or before you were reborn.
Generations Are Involved In Being Born
Look at the picture I posted of the most recent birth I had the honor of attending. My granddaughter, Callahan Jean, is being born in this very moment. My daughter Charsie is giving birth to her and my first born daughter Lashae is catching the new born baby. The father of this baby is overseeing everything and coaching like a champ. We are all in it together, hands on, in the mess and in the moment, and right in one another’s personal space and business. It’s a beautiful thing and it’s Callie Jean’s story for all of us to be a part of and to know and to recount and to tell her someday.
In this birth story, in the photo and behind the scene of this photo is generations and a wide range of support and love and silent prayers and loud cheering and tears of pain and joy. There is a rock star midwife, sisters, cousin, and niece, sister-in-law and nephew (2 weeks old). Not every birth has this kind of support all at once, but each one born and reborn needs care and support from the moment they breathe their first breath.
Each Birth Is A Miracle
What we know about birth is that there are no two the same, and it never leaves you the same as before you were born. No matter how many times you support or give birth, each person only experiences their own birth one time. Even with all the medical intervention and advancements of the world, each birth story is special and unique and risky and painful and beautiful, and in the hands of almighty God. I believe Jesus meant so much that we will never fully grasp when he was teaching Nicodemus about being born-again, but I believe we get a greater glimpse of insight each time we experience the miracle of birth.
John 3:1-13
