Advent Unfolding – Day 9 & 10

 

 

 

 

Week 2 –Gestation

      Day 9: Time - Day 10: Growth

 

Every year I take out these 8 plastic boxes, labeled with the names of each one of my children – In each box is a picture ornament for each year of that child’s life.  I slowly look at each picture and reflect on that child, how they have changed and grown over time, over the years, whether it be 11 for my youngest and 26 for my oldest,  and I smile. There are the precious baby pictures – each one a treasure and sweet reminder of the heritage they are. There are the goofy toddler pictures – the ones where you begin to see their unique personalities. There are the awkward puberty pictures –  the ones that they would rather keep hidden in their box. There are the young adult ones, where on the outside not much seems to change over time – but to this mama who has watched, and prayed and been stretched right along side of them, the growth has been even greater.

As I looked at these pictures this year, I pondered the word for this week –

Gestation: the time when a person is developing inside its mother before it is born; also : the process of development that happens during this time: the process by which something (or someone) forms and develops,

I ponder how God gives us the gift of time - time to process, to allow growth  to form and develop in us. I am so grateful He is such a patient Father.