December 8
I've prepared for a lot of things in my life. I've prepared to go off to college. I've prepared to be ordained. I've prepared to take a new job and to move. These were all important periods in my life. But none of these preparations have been anything like my preparation to become a parent.
Three and a half years ago I entered the process to adopt a child. For three and a half years I have been preparing for the day when I would become a parent. There have been many ups and even more downs. It has been a much longer process than I could ever have imagined, and I still do not know where it will all end. There are days when I have doubted. There have been days when I have been angry. There have been days when I have felt sad. But as I look back over this time, it hasn't been for nothing. It has not been wasted time. Through the pain and struggle of waiting, God has been working in me. Through the pain and struggle of waiting, God has been smoothing down a few of my rough edges. God has been teaching me about flexibility. God has been bringing me to a place of even greater certainty that being a mother is what I am truly called to be. God has been preparing me.
When I do finally come to the place where I am holding my child in my arms, I will be prepared in a way I never could have been had I not had to walk this very long journey. I will appreciate the gift that this child will be to me in a way that I would not have, if this journey had been an easy one. I will see the dirty diapers and the long nights and terrible twos and the rebellious teen years as the gifts that they are, because I will know the pain of not having a child at all. My heart will be bigger and I will have the space within me that I need to provide space for my child.
I wonder what each of us needs to do this Advent season to prepare our own hearts to receive Christ on Christmas Day?
Suzannah Rohman
Three and a half years ago I entered the process to adopt a child. For three and a half years I have been preparing for the day when I would become a parent. There have been many ups and even more downs. It has been a much longer process than I could ever have imagined, and I still do not know where it will all end. There are days when I have doubted. There have been days when I have been angry. There have been days when I have felt sad. But as I look back over this time, it hasn't been for nothing. It has not been wasted time. Through the pain and struggle of waiting, God has been working in me. Through the pain and struggle of waiting, God has been smoothing down a few of my rough edges. God has been teaching me about flexibility. God has been bringing me to a place of even greater certainty that being a mother is what I am truly called to be. God has been preparing me.
When I do finally come to the place where I am holding my child in my arms, I will be prepared in a way I never could have been had I not had to walk this very long journey. I will appreciate the gift that this child will be to me in a way that I would not have, if this journey had been an easy one. I will see the dirty diapers and the long nights and terrible twos and the rebellious teen years as the gifts that they are, because I will know the pain of not having a child at all. My heart will be bigger and I will have the space within me that I need to provide space for my child.
I wonder what each of us needs to do this Advent season to prepare our own hearts to receive Christ on Christmas Day?
Suzannah Rohman