When imagining welcoming a new life into this world, we often envision a birthing mother, sweat dripping from her brow after hours of hard labor, staring lovingly at the face which she has dreamed for many months. Pictures are posted instantly for all to see, announcing the birth within nanoseconds. Even before the umbilical cord is cut, this new soul is tied to the world. What manner of gift do we give a new life before it even enters the world? And by “gift,” I do not mean cribs, pacifiers, and bouncy seats. Babies need what we all need to survive: food, shelter, and clothing – even clothing is optional. We have baby showers because we think babies need “stuff.” But it is precisely this stuff that prevents us from giving our newborn babies the welcome they really truly need, the ultimate gift, us.
What manner of gift do we give a new life as it enters the world? Instead of newborn souls being provided the sacred welcome of their mothers’ warm body, I often witness babies unnecessarily whisked away, “cleansed” of nature’s fluids, examined by gloved hands and warmed with artificial objects. If we are to welcome these ultimate gifts into the world we must remember the capacity God gave us to embody God’s very Welcome itself. As we enter the New Year, welcomed back into life ourselves, I ask all birthing women to explore their own paths toward channeling the strength of our mothers. Study and reflect upon how Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah brought life into this world. Hear their powerful birthing voices. Envision the power of their bodies. They welcomed new life into this world without smartphones and Facebook, without worrying whether their bodies were made to birth “normally,” nothing separating them from their babies, just as generations of birthing women did before them.
Read blogger Marcus J. Freed’s response to this Jewel here.
