Preparing for birth

When a woman is in travail she has sorrow, because her hour has come; but when she is delivered of the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a child is born into the world. -- John 16:21 (RSV)

I have often wondered how a pre-born child perceives its approaching birth. Does it realize that it is growing and developing in preparation for its entry into the "outside world"? Or does it experience it simply as a growing restriction on its previous freedom to move, as the space within which it dwells becomes more and more cramped, until at last its limbs are tightly wrapped around itself and it is able to move only with the greatest difficulty?

And what about the birth process itself? How does it experience contractions as it feels itself being pushed by forces beyond its control, head first, against a seemingly immovable wall? To the extent that it is able, does it think that it is dying?

It's interesting, isn't it, that one of the common features in many peoples' "near death" experiences is the sense of going down a dark tunnel toward a bright light -- something like traveling down a birth canal.

Dear Lord Jesus, as I gradually experience the physical restrictions that come with aging and finally the death process itself, help me to remember that what we call the "throes of death" are really only the labor pains for being born into the fullness of new life with You. Amen.