Pregnancy is a journey that lasts 9 months. We can be grateful we’re not elephants (whose gestation period is 95 weeks, more than double ours!) Most of us don’t like journeys that take more than a few hours, but this journey involves many ups and downs.
A human pregnancy is usually divided into 3 trimesters, roughly 3 months each. Often, a woman will feel sick and tired during the first trimester as hormone levels fluctuate and her body prepares for the arrival of a child. The second trimester (weeks 13-27) is the most comfortable period of time for the majority of pregnant women, with renewed energy levels and less sickness. This is when a woman begins to ‘look’ pregnant and may find out through scans the sex of the baby. The third trimester may well be more uncomfortable as the baby grows and it can be hard to sleep well. Women often feel as though the end will never come!
Life can be likened to a journey too, as Alison spoke about last night at the ‘Churches Together’ carol service. It’s less definite than pregnancy (we often don’t know how long we have!) and often involves uncertainty and change, but through it all, there is a sense of progression and also the growing realisation, if we are believers, that God is with us and is in control. I often wonder if Mary had any other angelic encounters during her pregnancy, but suspect, like us, she had to live by faith rather than by sight. (2 Cor 5:7) Our challenge is to keep on believing and journeying towards ‘the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.’ (Heb 11:10) Just as Mary journeyed literally to be with Elizabeth and then to Bethlehem, just as the shepherds had to journey from the fields to the stable, just as the Magi journeyed from afar to worship the new-born king, so we too keep on journeying towards our loving God.