midwife

When I was pregnant with my first son, my newly-graduated-from-theological-school self wanted to compile a journal of prayers for childbirth. Given my fear of the pain and the unknown that lay ahead of me, I was convinced that having prayers to accompany me through labor and birth would keep me calm, centered, cool. Then the kid showed up three weeks early, and my procrastinating self had barely gotten around to packing the hospital bag, let alone gathering a set of inspiring prayers. (And believe me, when the triage nurse informed us that it was indeed my water that had broken, and we would indeed be having a baby that night, the words that flew out of my mouth had nothing holy or prayerful about them.) Thereby paving the beginning of my road to parenthood with good intentions. But the Spirit works in mysterious ways. So thanks to a playlist of Taize chant on the iPod in the delivery room, I was able to muster some meditative calm (at least in early labor, not that devil … [Read more...] about prayers for childbirth: God as midwife