Article March 19, 2007 Issue

CHILDBIRTH—LOVE ANNOUNCING, 'HERE I AM!'

BY KEITH WOMMACK

WHEN A NEW BABY is expected, a Christian Science practitioner often has the privilege of supporting the parents' prayers as well as other members of the family. Depending on the mother's and family's desires, the practitioner may pray regularly throughout all the months of pregnancy—or simply when there's a specific need for prayer. While pregnancy is certainly not to be treated as an illness, it is a special opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the spiritual nature of childbirth and the true identity of children. This prayer covers many bases—from questions and concerns about the gestation process to common fears associated with pregnancy. Each case is individual and the circumstances different, but prayer surrounding birth provides a foundation for understanding a child's true identity and the parents' role in his or her life.

God forms every child, or spiritual idea, perfectly—develops, carries, nourishes, influences, appreciates, and loves it throughout eternity. In Genesis, we read that God created man, both male and female, and declared that His creation "was very good" (1:31). This is a fixed fact. The divine Creator has no need to recreate or alter what He has already made.

In place of a physical process of creation and development, the spiritual view of birth reveals that every child is God's self-expression—His eternal self-revealing. St. Paul said explicitly, "We are the children of God" (Rom. 8:16). You could say that childbirth really represents how the divine Mind is announcing its own loveliness and innocence to the family, through this new spiritual idea, expressed as a beautiful baby.