Stretching

It had been two weeks since many had seen me, so this morning in church I was on the receiving end of a lot of wide grins and "So when are you due again? How much longer?" queries. I guess Baby and I grew.

This is my fourth pregnancy, and I've outgrown some of the pre-natal wide-eyed wonders and novelty. I'm not in the posting-baby-bump-profile-pictures-every-month stage (I don't think I even did that with my first). I'm excited to meet this new little person, to find out who s/he is and wonder at how we ever felt complete without this new life in our lives. I anticipate the person who is coming; I'm not gaga over the pregnancy.

Don't get me wrong: it has been a healthy pregnancy, and I think I've been the most energetic and least uncomfortable this time around (nothing short of miraculous). I love feeling the kicks and stretches, and I rejoice and grin at each one. And really, as far as pregnant women go, I'm pretty cute. But I also feel the real, physical strain, the toll of being a vessel of another's life. It's just not glamourous. I won't go into details, but believe me when I say that it's just.not.glamourous.

I don't know her, but I read some breathtaking words by Jordyn Osburn the other day that I knew I wanted to steal share.

Maybe some of our scars won’t follow us into resurrection, I don’t know. But Jesus had scars on his resurrected body. On his hands, on his feet, on his sides. Scars that proved that he lived, and that he loved. Scars that remind me of who he is and how he loves. He let Thomas touch them. Maybe someday he’ll let me touch them.  

Is it possible that the beautiful, spotless bride of Christ looks like a body that has lived? A body with wrinkles and scars and calluses? A body that has loved beyond herself in a way that stopped caring about what she thought was perfection and fixed her gaze on the one and only Perfect One? A body even willing to groan and bleed for love the way her Maker and Savior did? I think it’s possible. I think I want to be that kind of bride.  - Jordyn Osburn

Here are tangible, beautiful ways I've been stretched.