Recover

My midwife tells me that going through labour and birth is like running a marathon – it is that taxing on your whole being. I believe her because I annihilated a bottle of coconut water and several litres of water and fruit juice in the hours after my particular race had been run. Those liquids, to me, were like something produced in a very high-up, hidden mountain spring of otherworldly origin. I consumed them as a camel might take water in after two weeks of crossing a waterless desert. They so radically replenished my depleted stores that I was surprised to buy coconut water a week later in the hopes of experiencing the same kick, only to discover I am not sure I even like the stuff at all. You have to truly need a recovery for some things to make an impression like that. And I wonder how often we are going through life, with low reserves and deficiencies, and we haven’t realised what state we are in. We haven’t understood how quickly we can build ourselves up again and how satisfying it is to get revived, when we understand the season we are in

We have a rocker chair that was second hand when we acquired it thirteen years ago. I think we thought it needed a freshen up back then, but life happens, and the cat has sharpened her claws on it for the last three years, and now it’s really looking bad. What that chair needs is a complete overhaul. We must balance out it’s lop sided rock and then recover that poor thing. It’s had it’s own marathon here in our home and we have just let it go on in its pitiful state. It will serve us right if someone sits on it one day and it does a cartwheel and breaks a window.

To recover is to return to a normal state of health, mind or strength or to regain possession of something lost. I have learnt this week that recovery comes through many channels. Gary Smalley writes about Love Languages and how it is possible to fill people’s love tanks through words of affirmation, acts of service, physical touch, gift giving and quality time. People have poured out themselves to us in all these ways. They have marvelled over the good size of our baby and said how blessed we are. This morning at church we were called to the front so that we could show our little one to everyone and so that he could be prayed over. As we walked up there, I heard what I imagine would be the exact sounds of all the animals in the bush when a new little cub is presented. Clucks, rumbles and awe filled murmurs – no English words at all and yet affirming without a doubt. How does a little baby trigger such a primal response in people? Our community have delivered nourishing meals and my mom has washed all the baby things separately (we must never let those tiny, untainted garments go into the same load as all his siblings’ smelly sports socks). Those around us have hugged and kissed us and gladly held the newest arrival close to themselves. We receive gifts when we least expect it and there have been a steady stream of visitors popping in to acknowledge the miracle of new life and to celebrate with us, face to face, real time, no pomp and ceremony, just sitting together enjoying the moment.

My sister keeps arriving like a very busy squirrel who has been hunting for treasure. She brings, with her, treats for teatime and oil to banish stretch marks, and milk stout because isn’t that what the old wives say will help with milk production? Who would have known that a remedy to cure hangovers would be just what a mother of a newborn might need, if it wasn’t for a sister seeking all things good for her sister’s road to wholeness again? Unlike our kaput chair, the instability in me is rectified with every good hour of sleep, and where my fabric got faded, scratched and worn there has been a merciful recovering with something cheery and whimsical that I have never seen for sale before. It has come about at the hands of family and friends and the One who loves me more than anyone ever can.

Giving birth is no problem, it’s natural and we are designed to do it, but it is still a very obvious time in life where recovery is needed. Sometimes, though, we aren’t even aware how very much we need attention. I hope as you read this today, that you will give some quiet thought to what season you are in and how you really are. It can be hard to be vulnerable and disclose the level of wear and tear we might be in, but it may surprise you, the people around you and the God who made you have got solutions! They have needles and threads and bolts of material and stuffing that are just what you need. Trust me, I am not doing better by anything clever I have done myself. I have, quite simply, found myself surrounded. What a sweet spot to be in.

Psalm 42 v 7 “Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me. By day the Lord directs His love, at night His song is with me – a prayer to the God of my life.”

Isaiah 40 v 29 – 31 “He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”