I am just days away from going into labor, and lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about the season of waiting and how that compares to the end times. Here me out, I’m not saying I’m birthing the doom and gloom of the end of the world as we know it, but I am saying that waiting for something that you know is going to happen, but you have no idea when it will happen has been a very prominent theme the past couple of weeks. And through these revelations (ha), I’ve been convicted that I don’t live in as much anticipation of Jesus’ return as I do with the birth of my unborn child.
My body doesn’t feel like my body.
Throughout the last few months, my body has transformed, and I have been UNCOMFORTABLE, and the closer I get to my due date, the more uncomfortable I get. In the same way, I have been challenged by my earthly desires. The closer we get to Jesus’ return, do we get more uncomfortable with the body we’re in? Do we feel the tension, the aching in our souls that someone is coming to redeem us out of these earthly bodies and into heavenly ones? Do we feel uncomfortable with the things of this world and long to be delivered from them?
It’s all anyone talks to me about.
Everywhere I go, anyone I encounter people ask me, “How are you doing?” Do we walk alongside our brothers and sisters in Christ each day eagerly wanting to know how they’re doing in their walk with Christ? Are we checking up on others just like we would if they were 9 months pregnant? Are we as excited to meet Jesus as we are when a baby is coming?
I can’t control the timing – no matter how much I want to.
Each day I’ve woken up with profound expectation – hoping, pleading, that today would be the day. It is all I’ve been able to think about AND it’s ALL people ask me about. Do we prepare our homes, our families, the people around us like Christ is coming any day? Do we live with this much anticipation? My house looks different. Conversations with my other kids have been different. I have been preparing for the day of this beautiful child to enter the world, and there is preparation. I haven’t walked around without a plan. Every aspect of my life has a plan – my job, my friends, my family, my kids – everyone knows what is going to happen and how it’ll affect me and them. Do we live in this same sense of eagerness knowing that one day, things won’t look the same as they do now here on earth?
Being pregnant has been HARD. It’s everything about me and my lifestyle. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same is always true about my relationship with Jesus even though He tells us that our journey with Him won’t be easy. Just like being pregnant, Jesus should transform everything about minds, hearts, souls, and the way we view our circumstances. And each day, I pray my heart longs to wake up with the desperation of saying, “Lord Jesus, come.”
Kali Dunson