Hardly a day goes by that your Daddy and I don’t look at each other and say, “I can’t believe this is really happening. There is really a tiny human growing! There is really a little child on the way into our lives!” The miracle of reproduction is truly mind-boggling. What an amazing Creator God we have, to design such an intricate process. Some days it’s hard to “wrap my brain around.”
This week you are the size of a small avocado or pear. This pear was green when I purchased it, but by the time I photographed it a few days later, it was a beautiful golden yellow (and also juicy and sweet!). It reminded me of light, of sunshine.
Your house has grown sufficiently where I can easily feel the firm edges of it in my belly when I lay down. My belly looks bigger than you really are, but mostly because you and your house have pushed my other organs further up and out behind my belly button. (By the way, I had a “eureka” moment this week when I realized that my belly button represents my umbilical cord, my physical connection to my mommy; and right behind that section of my adult skin, you are growing. We are connected through this somehow, you, myself, my mom, her mom before her. Crazy.)
A hair pattern is now developing on your head, and even your eyebrows are beginning to form. Your toenails and fingernails are just starting, and your flexible skeleton is growing and firming into bones. Since your skin is still translucent, if we could see you, we would see your lungs expanding and contracting, as you breathe amniotic fluid in through your nose and mouth. As long as you are inside me, you receive oxygen through the placenta (into your future belly button!). For ONLY this short season of life, a human can exist completely in water. You not only drink and digest it, but you inhale and breathe it. Once outside, for the rest of your life, breathing too much water becomes fatal, so enjoy it while you can! What an astounding transition you will one day make, from water-filled lungs to air-filled lungs, all in a matter of seconds.
Your eyes, while still fused shut, are sensitive enough to detect light. Last night when we read this information, your Daddy looked at me with huge eyes and a sharp intake of air. We didn’t even have to exchange conversation for me to know exactly what he was thinking.
I reached over to our bedside table where we keep flashlights, and handed one to him. Grinning widely, he spent several minutes sliding the flashlight around against the skin of my lower abdomen, talking to you the whole time. If this was too bright and crazy for you, well, you have your Daddy to blame when you arrive.
Light is a metaphor for many beautiful things. In Scripture, it frequently refers to Jesus, and to us when He is inside us. Of all the things I could pray for you Beta, it would be that as you grow, you invite Jesus to shine inside you. He is my greatest love, and the Light I have held onto over and over and over again when life seemed black and hopeless. I know your Daddy would say the same.
I pray most of all, that you will experience His light, and embrace it to yourself.
In this Scripture, “light” is referring to the people of God, when the light of Jesus is inside them.
“Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you.
See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples,
but the LORD rises upon you and his glory appears over you.
Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.
“The sun will no more be your light by day, nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you,
for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory.” (Isaiah 60: 1-3; 19)
This is the kind of light I pray you have. The glory of the Lord, shining in darkness, drawing people from every nation and class to His light.
In this Scripture, Jesus is referring to Himself as the light.
“Jesus replied, ‘My light will shine for you just a little longer. Walk in the light while you can, so the darkness will not overtake you. Those who walk in the darkness cannot see where they are going. Put your trust in the light while there is still time; then you will become children of the light.
“If you trust me, you are trusting not only me, but also God who sent me. For when you see me, you are seeing the one who sent me.
“I have come as a light to shine in this dark world, so that all who put their trust in me will no longer remain in the dark.” (John 12:35 – 36; 44-46)
Your Daddy and I, we have put our trust in the Light. You are born, as everyone is, a child of the Light. May you put your trust in Him, may you let Him shine into your darkness. Like the yellow pear you are this week, may you radiate His warm, sweet light.
