My OBGYN (i know… can’t beat a sentence that starts with that!) told me something when I was pregnant with my third child that has stuck with me. I had miscarried right before that pregnancy, which is when he became my doctor. So, as I was in the beginning stages of this new pregnancy, and praying that all would be okay with the baby he told me something like this: In all of his years as an OB, he became more and more convinced of what a miracle a healthy baby was. He said that we tend to think that a miscarriage, or a baby born with any kind of problems is what is out of the ordinary, but that when you consider when all of the things that have to go right within a pregnancy actually do, it has to be a miracle.
I have been thinking about that lately as it relates to life… specifically the life that follows God. We tend, as Christians, to think that a person who can’t make all of the “right” decisions, someone who maybe struggles with an addiction or an attitude and can’t break free, is “less than.” We think that they should be able to put that aside, and live this perfect life… even though we know we can’t. They should pull up their skirt and run like a man… even as we ourselves are screaming like little schoolgirls when we don’t get our way. Or maybe that’s just me.
But this is what I think about this life we live. We rely on those around us to be loving and faithful. We expect our children, siblings, parents to be without defect or disease. We want our children to remain innocent from the hurt and pain of this life. We count on violence not really touching us personally. We expect to live stable, comfortable lives in the homes and places of our choice with the belongings we feel we deserve filling them up.
But what happens when something goes wrong? How do we respond when one or more of those things doesn’t happen the way we think they should? We live in a fallen world, among a bunch of fallen people- ourselves not excluded- and unfortunately, we will have to face something.
So this is what I’m realizing: when you take into consideration all of the things that have to go right, it’s really a miracle when someone does live a selfless, holy life on this earth.
