Birthing

For personal and spiritual reasons I've been thinking about "birth".   I'm in the midst with some others of preparing meditations and prayers for devotional material and one of the themes I have is about being born or giving birth.

I thought this would be relatively easy to write as the experience of birth is one I've been part of on three occasions - my own and both my children's.   Obviously I don't have any particular memories of my own, and while I should remember my children's, the wonderful things called nature has made them perhaps not as memorable for me as they seem to have been for my husband who was probably the more conscious of us on both occasions.

I like devotional material that allows me to take more than one interpretation from a piece, so that it can appeal in different ways at different times in my life.   I think as I'm beginning the sketching outlines that is what I'm aiming for with "birth".

For me the individual relationship with the unborn child or idea is about both nurture and struggle.   While the unborn is within your internal womb, it is for the one who mothers it to dream of what it may bring in the future.  

Yet in the moment of birth, that child or idea no longer belongs to you alone.   Instead it is set free in the world for others to mould and shape.   You may still play your part but as the child or idea grows there is a time for the mother to step back and allow independence if the fruition of the womb-time dreams are to become real.

In my aging years, I hope someone reminds me of these thoughts.   Should I hinder my children's independence as they grow beyond the needing my immediate attention and support, I'm hoping someone will have the kindness to remind me that birthing is but a moment (although sometimes lengthy and painful).   Instead may I be willing to share with others the celebration of growing life that finds a place within the worldly community.