Good morning…

I gave birth to each one of our four kids naturally. When birthing new life, we endure extreme pain with a well-defined purpose. Near the end of the process, a significant shift occurs. Having spent hour after grueling hour weathering waves of contractions, keeping the baby “in,” it finally comes time to get the baby “out!” Each time, I struggled to shift from weathering my waves of pain to finally relinquishing control of this new life, birthing the baby God had formed.

I see the same pattern occurring spiritually with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus weathers waves and waves of his own human desire. Can’t you sense him saying, “I want to live, to love, to linger on earth.” “Father, please don’t let me be betrayed by a friend, be brutally beaten, and be crucified like a criminal on a manmade cross.” “Isn’t there another way to bring home the lost?” We are told in Matthew 26:39a (NIV): …he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me.” Again and again he poured out his honest feelings to his Father.

Then a shift occurs. From verse 26:39a to 26:39b, a shift occurs. Seems to me Jesus also struggled with the shift. From keeping his human life “in” intact as he knew it, to birthing God’s new life of abundance “out” into the world. From the first half of the verse to the second, Jesus shifted from “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me,” to “Yet not as I will, but as you will.”

Conversing with God through our human contractions is a very important part of the birthing process. If Jesus could beg and plead with his Father as his inner pain grew, we are invited also to cry out to God. “Cure this addiction.” “Lift this depression.” “Keep us from financial ruin.” We beg. “Bring a friend who understands.” “Spark love with a soulmate.” “Grant the gift of a child.” We plead. “Father, keep our family together.” “Don’t make me move from my comfort zone.” “Soften the ugly effects of aging on my loved one.” The contractions grow stronger. “God, heal this cancer.” “Please don’t let my loved one die.” “Speed up grieve to a happy ending.” We must fully feel, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me,” if we are to wholeheartedly surrender, “Yet not as I will, but as you will.”

As he got up from the tear streaked dirt, Jesus had surrendered his own will to the higher will of God. The new life of abundance birthed through Jesus in the garden is summed up in John 6:39-40 in the Message translation. Jesus says, “This, in a nutshell, is that will: that everything handed over to me by the Father be completed—not a single detail missed—and at the wrap-up of time I have everything and everyone put together, upright and whole. This is what my Father wants: that anyone who sees the Son and trusts who he is and what he does and then aligns with him will enter real life, eternal life. My part is to put them on their feet alive and whole at the completion of time.”

Though we weather the pain of illness and infertility, longing and loneliness, death and divorce, we shift, we surrender to what God wants. This, in a nutshell, is God’s will: that all who see, trust, and align with the Son will ultimately stand upright and together, alive and whole.

…Sue…