The newest translations of the now-ridiculed scriptures said "Consider it pure joy when you are baited, for it's training you to be a mother."
She took it literally as she read it, huddled under the covers, where the Uber-ships could not see into her 131st floor apartment. A voice there, in the quiet, seemed to say, "I want to make you into a mother."
The government hadn't quite sterilized the population, for of course that would cause great outcry. But the abortion-chemicals (as she called them) were laced into all the food they could buy. The population was sterilizing itself by choice.
She closed the tiny faux-leather cover of the New Testament and fell asleep telling herself, "Shun my temptation. Treasure my discipline." For only this long, hard practice would help her keep the rare baby inside of her.
Riding to work on the bus, she had to take off her i-Augment lenses. She was beginning to recognize the subtlety in the messages that made her want to indulge in her "temptations" ALL-THE-TIME. She was starting to see that the digitally augmented messages on the storefronts were just marketing spin. They flashed tasty foods with labels that said they were engineered to contain ingredients made to make you feel good. As she folded her lenses into her purse everything just looked a lot more gray to her. The colorful, augmented overlays were so much prettier to look at.
She cupped her hands on her belly. The hope was inside her, and she would only enjoy it long after she had made all these hard choices. She reached into her purse and nibbled on the pure and healthy cashews and broccoli she had harvested from her tiny rooftop garden.
65 years later, surrounded by natural birth grand-children, which were very rare, she reflected on those days of her first pregnancy. Not only had her hard perseverance protected the baby growing inside her, it had made her into the type of disciplined, mature, complete person who was ready to mother. And people who had mastered their desires like that were even more rare these days than natural children.
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What if growing into a complete person depends on how well we do perseverance? And what if that strong and beautiful, mature person God wants to make us into is as real and important as a baby would be if it were in our womb. Philippians 1:6 says, he who started a good work in you is faithful to bring it to completion.
Raw Spoon, 2-17-2020
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