You are in a dark, yet warm, place. Most of the sounds you hear are muffled. You have never been able to define what is going on because you canʼt see beyond the darkness, however, you feel content to stay in this safe place. Then it seems like your surroundings begin to shrink, and you canʼt deny the increasing feeling of being trapped. You begin to feel a sense of anticipation, yet…the feelings of trepidation are unmistakeable. You have the strong sense that the life that you now know will soon drastically change. In your consciousness, you become aware that you were created for more….so much more! Your contentment of staying in this safe environment is being
replaced by an intense longing. A longing for something you have never experienced, but somehow you recognize without a shadow of a doubt, that this was the exact purpose for your life. Your complete existence is not to stay within the “cocoon” that shelters you. This womb is only the breeding place to prepare you for so much more. You were created to be set free. Totally free!
Recently, we have again been reminded about the brevity of life. We know about a husband that is facing cardiac failure, a little girl that is very ill and in the hospital, an acquaintance that is dying from cancer, and a family that is grieving because of the death of their young son. These incidents remind us of the “birthing pains” that each of us experience in some way. We are being incubated until God determines that we are ready to be set free.
Think about these questions…Are you satisfied with the events and circumstances that are surrounding you? Do you ever feel disappointed with life or the relationships that you thought would bring fulfillment? Are you striving for greater opportunities to achieve the sense of purpose you so greatly desire? Do you long for more? Discontentment with what life has to offer is a birthing pain that reminds us of what is yet to come.
This discontentment is often confused with the lust for material gain. We have the tendency to try to fill our
discontentment with temporary pleasures; it never works! How can a needy and sin-sick world offer us anything of sustenance? We need to quit searching in the wrong places for purpose in life. God is the only One that can offer us completeness, and He alone chooses when we can be set free from our laboring. Our strivings should never consist of earthly profit, but rather, it should consist of Heavenly dividends accumulated by seeking Godʼs face.
Our time in this world can be compared to a womb. It is the place where we are growing and being prepared for our true life and eternal existence. The joys and struggles are preparing us for someday being set free.
Have you ever had the privilege of watching a butterfly leave its cocoon? It is also a picturesque example of our earthly lives. A butterfly struggles to leave behind the sticky and confining cocoon that has held it captive for so long. However, the struggle it goes through to be set free is essential to its survival. Without this intense struggle, the wings would never develop enough to be able to fly to freedom.
We are, in many ways, like butterflies that are still in the cocoon of life. We are anxiously waiting to be transformed into what God has planned for us. We desire to be lifted above our earthly circumstances, to be released, and set free. Our hearts long to soar away to genuine freedom.
This life will, at some point, disappoint you. It should be a safe place, but just like an abortion defies the protective nature of the womb, life on earth can sometimes be brutal. We aren’t protected and cared for like God intended. There are approximately 3,700 innocent babies that die each day, but God hasn’t rejected them. He has a special place reserved in Heaven for each one. The same is true for you and me if we remain faithful until our day of “birth.” What a glorious promise!
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart…” (Jer. 1:5)
~Cindy (For The Mullett Family)
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