Adversity and Family
Giving birth, even with all the safeties, niceties and drugs of modern medicine, is still a dangerous task. Aside from the months where each of us are inside the womb, where virtually anything can happen – an extreme, such as the use of undertested prescription drugs, or something as everyday and mundane as falling down the stairs, can endanger the life of both child and mother.
So why, we must ask, did God desire for humanity to continue itself by means of an inherently dangerous procedure? Why, for example, did we not spring up from the ground, like mushrooms? It would not be beyond God to do this, and it would be a far safer means – and certainly more practical.
But this is not the purpose of parenthood. One parents, not because it’s easy, but because it’s difficult – and not difficult needlessly, but because it is through adversity that groups become stronger. A mother and her child will always have some kind of relationship because of pregnancy and childbirth, and families will be together because they went through that process, because they go through adversity together.
Childbirth, from all accounts, is not only dangerous, but also an extremely painful process. To bring a child into the world by natural means causes a pain so great that, literally, the body uses the same natural painkillers that is used for cancer. When Jesus was praying in Gethsemene, on the night that He gave Himself up to be crucified for the abundant life of the world, the reaction that His body had was the same as those on death row – His Blood became so thin that it came out of the pores of his forehead. Such was His love for us, that He still voluntarily went through this for us! Such is the love of a mother, that she voluntarily gives birth to us!
Why respect parents? Why honour parents? Why love parents? Because they have done so much, because this is the first relationship with an authority figure, and will prepare us to love and be close to God. We are given parents, who are supposed to love us unconditionally – with all the benefits and restrictions that brings – so that we can love our Father in heaven, and our brothers and sisters in Christ all around us. Our parents, with great pain, brought us into the world and gave us life; God, with great pain, was crucified and brought us into heaven to have eternal life. We are given a family here, to understand the family of God.
I think it fair to say that the greatest joy of my adult life has been becoming my father’s friend. Good parenting is not friendship (what a way to spoil children!), but it does pave the way for friendship later in life.
Well said, Joseph. Thanks.
Just to build on that, I’ve found that a friendship is something that comes after some relationship of social equality has been established. That’s something that the child has to grow into – likewise, that’s something that, I believe, we have to keep trying to grow into with God. Even if the end result isn’t possible – we are, after all, essentially different – we should still aspire to edge our way closer to Godliness.