Last night the candles were lit, yummy bakey smells wafted room to room, the twinkle lights were doing their twinkling, and my house was filled with girlfriends I love.
Read: it was lovely, loud, laughy, and there were lots of words!
Studies say that women average 20,00 words a day – 13,000 more than men. Last night I think we skewed that average high.
Think about when you get together with your best friends – talking over each other, finishing each other’s sentences, laughing at shared experiences…
This is how I imagine the meeting between the newly pregnant Mary and the last trimester Elizabeth.
Mary didn’t waste a minute. She got up and traveled to a town in Judah in the hill country, straight to Zachariah’s house, and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby in her womb leaped. She was filled with the Holy Spirit, and sang out exuberantly,
Picture the hills. The first time I visited I was surprised at how steep and hilly this area is, and I was surprised at the pine trees. Did Mary run? Was she out of breath? Sweaty? Did they hug and start talking immediately?
If I had written this next part of the Bible I’d put in a lot more exclamation points! 🙂
You’re so blessed among women,
and the babe in your womb, also blessed!
And why am I so blessed that
the mother of my Lord visits me?
The moment the sound of your
greeting entered my ears,
The babe in my womb
skipped like a lamb for sheer joy.
Blessed woman, who believed what God said,
believed every word would come true! Luke 1;39-45
What an unlikely pair – an unwed pregnant teenager, carrying Jesus, and an old, post-menopausal woman carrying John the baptist!
I love it that these two women visited during what was probably the hardest trimester for each of them. I can hear them peppering each other with questions…
Can you even? You? Me? Us??!
Have you had morning sickness? Want to sleep all the time?
Have you felt him kick?
How has your family reacted? What about Joseph? How are you holding up?
(And just imagine Zacharias in the corner, unable to speak at all!)*
Here are two faithful, amazing women through whom God is birthing something new. Something beautiful for the world. And He gives them to each other, almost like birthing coaches.
This is you too. Whether you’re a mom or not God is birthing something beautiful through you. The labor and delivery can be hard, but He gives us to each other.
As I looked around at the women last night I thought how often they have encouraged me to breathe,
or to hang on,
or have said “Me too” at just the right time.
Who are the women in your life who are birth coaches, affirming the beauty that God is growing in you?
*Luke 1:20
