Jesus meets John
for the first time
based on
a Christmas card
I made years ago
In the womb
We start out life in the relatively safe confines of our mother’s womb, cushioned by a body of water, until the waters break and it’s time to show our face and let our voice be heard.
When my mother was 8 months pregnant with me, her appendix burst. My father, a recent immigrant to South Africa without any family nearby to provide support, faced the prospect of losing both his wife and unborn child. The medical team opted to leave me in place. I imagine the nuns at St Joseph’s Maternity Hospital, who knew my mother as a nurse and former colleague and now as a prospective mother and patient, prayed us through the crisis. I was born full term a month later.
Mother and child (1966) by Herb Lubalin
Fearfully and wonderfully made
Many times I come back to these words from Psalm 139 – a truth beyond comprehension, revealed to affirm us in the body and in the faith:
For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
Psalm 139:13-16 (NIVUK)
In the body
The phrase “body of water” is also a reference to the role water plays in the human body. For more details, check out this educational video, “What would happen if you didn’t drink water?” by Mia Nacamulli:
Prayer
“Lord, you have given me so much; I ask for one more thing – a grateful heart.”
after George Herbert (1593-1633)
This post is one a number on the theme of water, theme of the month for July 2017.