As a result of my fertility challenges, people frequently confide in me regarding their own struggles to conceive. One such woman recently completed another round of treatments. She and her husband have been for a pregnancy test and know whether or not they were successful, but have elected to not share that information with anyone else at this time.
People who have been walking this journey with them were warned in advance that they were going to keep the most recent headline (positive OR negative) to themselves for a few weeks. Everything about the fertility journey is such a roller coaster. I always found it bizarre to have multiple people aware of where I was in my cycle and how my ovaries were behaving. I can appreciate the desire to reclaim some privacy.
I am such an open book when it comes to my emotions that the thought of being able to keep such joy or disappointment under wraps for weeks is very hard for me to imagine.
As I have been praying for this couple, I keep coming back to the reference to Mary's nature during the course of her early motherhood of Jesus. When the people around her were discussing and sharing the birth of her son--God's Son--it is written that "Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart." (Luke 2:19)
In this day and age of social media, pondering things without publishing them is somewhat of a lost art. The decision to ponder, pray and get their arms around God's plans for this season of their lives before they go public is special.
I am a big fan of the body of Christ. I love the way God wired humans to need each other in community and fellowship. Even still, as I was praying for this couple today I was reminded that there is a time and a place for everything. There is plenty of time for family and friends to rejoice or mourn, to celebrate or to comfort, to share and to discuss. I pray this intimate time for she and her husband to be in on a secret together with only their God will be blessed.
I am personally reminded to not be in such a hurry to publish (or shoot a text, email or phone call to friends) that I forget to pray and ponder. No doubt there is great treasure in allowing the Lord to be our first confidante!
1 comment:
Thank you for this post. I had never put much thought into this verse, perhaps because I only recently became a mother. What an amazing woman and mother Mary must have been.
My husband and I are much like your friends, (not in the same situation) but we choose to keep many things private (when others often readily dish) and only share them when/if the time is right. I choose not to have Facebook for this reason. This doesn't make us any better than anyone else, it's just the way we choose to live. I guess it's just nice to know that there are others who choose the same path. It's also nice that there are people like you that wholly support/respect them in their decision (despite your likely eagerness to know their news).
Post a Comment