Second Trimester

Allowing God to knit us throughout life

 Psalm 139: 13-14

Truly you have formed my inmost being; you knit me in my mother’s womb. I give you thanks that I am fearfully, wonderfully made; wonderful are your works.  

            Everyone knows how delicate and blessed are the 9 months of pregnancy for both mom and baby.  Pregnant moms take special care of themselves and their babies in the womb.  Of course, they know they shouldn’t smoke or drink and they should get extra rest.  Everyone else pampers the mother and baby, too, especially the husbands, who feel guilty they cannot do more.  Maybe that’s the real reason women used to have 8, 9 or 10 babies because that was the only way to get their husbands to do any work around the house!  Smart.  Many moms talk to their babies in the womb, and some even play classical music to them.  Everyone knows how precious those 9 months of pregnancy are.

             Someone else who’s very attentive to those first 9 months is God.  Today, Psalm 139 (a very profound psalm) says, “Truly, you have formed my inmost being; you knit me in my mother’s womb.”  What a lovely image of God, like a loving mother knitting a sweater, so God knits us slowly and patiently, putting us together piece by piece, thread by thread, in the womb: first heart, then lungs, eyes, hands and fingernails.  The magic of ultrasound allows us to glimpse God’s knitting.  It’s not just the husband doing all the housework who’s busy those 9 blessed months, God is working overtime, too.  Anyone who has witnessed the birth of a baby has seen a miracle: God’s handiwork.

             I would like to invite you to see all of life as a time in the womb, where God continues to knit us together with his loving grace, until we die.  And try to see death not as the end but really as the day of your birth into heaven, when you truly begin to live.  You see, pregnancy is not just for 9 months, but really for 90 years – some husbands will be terrified to hear that!  The ancient philosopher, Plato, saw this truth and described it in his famous allegory called “The Cave.”  You should google that today and read it.  Only after we die are we truly born and begin to live.

             Let me leave you with a poem called “The Weaver” which shows how God knits us together throughout life, not just in the womb.

My life is but a weaving

Between my Lord and me;

I cannot choose the colors

He worketh steadily.

Oft times he weaveth sorrow

And I, in foolish pride,

Forget he sees the upper,

And I the under side.

Not till the loom is silent

And the shuttles cease to fly

Shall God unroll the canvas

And explain the reason why.

The dark threads are as needful

In the weaver’s skillful hand,

As the threads of gold and silver

In the pattern he has planned.

He knows, he loves, he cares,

Nothing this truth can dim.

He gives his best to those

Who leave the choice to him.

 When you look at things that way, and consider that I’m 45 years old, I guess that puts me in the middle of the second trimester.

 Praised be Jesus Christ!