As an obstetrician, the word “labor” brings to mind a woman yelling in pain and giving birth to a new born in my hands! While some women go in labor before their expected date of delivery, some have no signs of labor and have to be given medication for induction or begin labor in them. With some patients labor is smooth and predictable , while with some it is extremely difficult and there is need of constant decision making and monitoring with machines!
To recognize that a woman has deviated from the expected course of normal labor , we plot a partograph ( or a graph of the patients progress in labor on a chart against time ) and any deviation is picked up easily and the appropriate management whether it is adding a drug ( oxytocin) or rushing for a cesarean section or sometimes just waiting and watching the course the baby takes to come into the world!! The journey in the womb of the baby during labor is assessed by vaginal examinations, monitoring fetal heart rate on a machine and the expertise of the midwife / doctor to help direct it into the most appropriate path to delivery!!
Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened,
and I will give you rest, says the Lord!
I could not find a better analogy then our lives in faith with labor and delivery. While we are that baby who has been nurtured in faith and making our way through the passage of life, we often feel in “labor” and burdened and take our own course! While some of us have sought the Lords goodness instantly and adhered to it, some of us ( like me) have been cruising the passage way and causing pain with my abrupt and jerky journey! Some days I am all on my perfect path to the Lord , pushed by the efforts of my family prayer and community of youth. But other days I refuse to budge, question every bit of faith and act like the baby in a position where the best management is ” wait and watch”!!
And watch He does!! HE waits on us for a decision to follow Him and His methods, the expected path, but sometimes we take a longer route and cause more pain and take longer to arrive at our destination of faith! Yet, He rejoices at the arrival of the lost sheep ! The widow and the Lord jump with joy on finding the coin of our faith in our lives!! The Lord throws us a birthday bash when we arrive at His house, with wide arms he hugs us like a newly delivered mother and kisses us with joy and happiness!!
there will be rejoicing among the angels of God
over one sinner who repents.
I know God is watching and waiting on our labor of life and helping us find our own way through it, and if we deviate on the way, He guides us through seamlessly into the journey of a faith filled life to lead us to the ultimate goal of reaching heaven!! Let us all “push” end this labor and dump the burden of sin at His feet…..
PRAYER:
Thank you Lord for helping me get into the path of faith. Guide me to follow your law and push through this laborious life. Give me rest and mental peace as I put forth all my burdens at your feet and rush to hug you! AMEN.
