Birth & Release
To be reborn we have to die. But we can’t stay dead. Holy Saturday in the Christian tradition is the day between Jesus’ death and resurrection. The day he was dead. If the story ended there, our story would end too. But it didn’t. There is more. Hs life was quickened.
Rebirth happened. And not just in the Spirit, in the flesh as well. Perhaps the ressurection is a metaphor too - that rebirth works from spirit to body, from the inside out. As we continue to create, we personally go through this process of death and rebirth as a matter of fact of life.
This IS the way.
Rebirth is built into the rhythms of the universe. Into the natural order. Into our seasons. In fall things must wither, store, and die for the winter. Then in the spring they begin again to live, sprout, and bud for summer. This is the way. Life must go through its cycles of life and death.
There is a “time” for everything. A destination. A destiny. And our time is not ours to simply decide. It is discovered. Like seasons. By observation, by careful study, by listening. But when it is time, then it is time. And we must submit to the process, allowing time its work.
A pregnant woman waits and waits and waits in the 3rd trimester. She anticipates. Imagines. Looks forward to. Fears. Loathes. All wrapped into one process. The days slow down, while the weight and burden of having another human being inside becomes more real.
She is ready. Waiting.
With expectant joy she endures many sleepless, uncomfortable nights. Her hormones are all over the place. She is off-balance yet in a place of almost untouchable focus. Her physiology has been leading up to this a long, long time. She is ready. She is waiting.
But the time is not up to her. Not completely. Even with modern (and traditional) inducing methods, there remains a great mystery to birthing. One we can not fully control. It is a gift and a reality we must wait for. Anticipate. Prepare for. It is one that is worth the wait!
Life’s great steps or moments forward are like that. We work for and toward something. We anticipate. We expect. We explore. But at some point we must release. And this is the ultimate end of the birth process. It is also the end of the rebirth process.
We must die to the life we know in order to release the new thing growing inside us.
For the joy of what is being birthed we are willing to endure the process. And only for that joy. Creative births are heart-breaking, gut-wrenching, soul-confounding, mind-tripping, and death-defying work. The risk is serious. But like a pregnancy, there is no way backward!
Once we are actually in the process there is only one exit. One way out. Though this is a new and unique journey each time, all the necessary steps are there: the squeeze, remaining till the time comes, enduring the risks of the great transition, and eventually the birth and the letting go.
Trust the work will bring its own rewards. It will.
