Trusting the process

I see the human over here. The midwife announced with finality as she gently rubbed the scanning machine over my belly. I wasn’t sure what reaction to have, so, I burst out and laughed.

Those words will forever be engraved in my memory as the beginning of one of the most intriguing journeys of my life.

The journey of being a parent begins in obscurity. Aside from the possibility of pregnancy symptoms, it’s not always visible to everyone.

Recently, I was pondering on the notion of process. The gestation period of any living thing is proof that there will always be a process. The key question, however, is whether one can trust that process.

Take, for example, raising a child and teaching them values and manners. The other day I entered the bathroom and the first thing that hit me was the pungent smell of urine. An individual had left behind a very small but loud expression of their activity in the bathroom and the entire place was filled with an unpleasant smell.

The children were asleep, so, I gathered myself up and cleaned up. There are incidents where I’d have woken up the culprit to do the cleaning themselves. But over and over again, I remind myself to get down into the mud - so to speak and do the cleaning myself.

Why? Because actions are loud and effective teachers. Monkey sees, monkey does! There’s a process and a journey in learning. Can I trust the process?

I continually remind myself to be kind and gracious with the children even as I teach and mould them into maturity and excellence.

It’s not always straightforward and some moments are more challenging, but we keep the faith that good fruit will come through. We should trust the process of growth which moves from obscurity to the place where the good fruit is visible to all.

In this time of extended lockdown, where children have kept home for months, the stretch on both the parents and children is inevitable. Being creative about how to use extra time that is available is no mean feat, yet we must continue walking the journey.

I find loads of encouragement remembering that I too was once a child with a strong mind and will. I too was taught how to live and learning wasn’t always automatic. I went through a process which nurtured me and picked me up the many times that I fell.

It takes a whole nine months for a baby to develop in their mother’s womb; not a few days. It takes time of continuous learning to grow that individual. May God continue upholding us as we learn to trust the process and gestation of things.