A Life Lesson from the Pain of Childbirth

There are so many life lessons in the hard process for birthing a baby.

The physical pain for the mother is almost unbearable; the emotional pain for the dad cements his heart even more to the one he loves so much as he helps her through the labor.

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. See full disclosure here.

When the struggle is over and the baby is safely in the world – joy, wonder, thankfulness, awe, an enveloping love overwhelms the new parents.

“When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.” John 16:31 ESV

Isn’t that how it is with many trials that we suffer through?

So hard to go through them, but God in His sovereignty, uses them for our growth and works all things together for good for those of us who are called according to His purpose.

And so this precious baby, their baby, the representation of two parents becoming one in the flesh of a new person – is born through this painful process.

To the infant, the voices he hears are familiar but their faces are new. The baby struggles to figure out what sight actually is as he barely opens those perfectly made eyes. His constant food supply has stopped and he wants it to continue, so he searches with his mouth for that source of continued sustenance.

Welcome to the world to our newest grandson born after a long labor for his mom and dad.

The parents were exhausted and eager for some sleep but they graciously invited me to come and meet him before they tried to sleep.

Seeing this new little one for the first time brought tears to my eyes. This precious child for whom I prayed . . . this gift from above to our family . . . the deep connection that I felt to him as I gently held his tiny, perfect body.

God has a plan for him and has chosen amazing parents to raise him to know Jesus. Somehow I had trouble getting down to my work the next day. My phone has a new cover photo, my computer will soon have a new wallpaper, my birthday perpetual calendar has a new entry for November 12th, my grandchildren’s prayer notebook has a new page.

The very real struggle to bring life into this world is a small microcosm of the struggles in our lives to bring new life to a situation, a relationship, a business venture.

Perseverance with a view to the end goal is necessary for our perspective.

“Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” Romans 5:3-5 ESV

May we all remember this life lesson of persevering through the pain of life for the rewards God has for us.

Disclaimer: The photo above and below is a free stock photo.