An Advent Sermon about Joy
Many women tell stories of how they loved being pregnant, loving feeling the baby kick, loved that “pregnancy glow”. Well, I didn’t exactly enjoy being pregnant. I gained 65 pounds in my pregnancy. Ella’s kicks felt like she was practicing for soccer tryouts or a taekwondo competition. None of my clothes fit. Don’t be fooled- that pregnancy glow was actually just sweat. I may or may not have been irritable and short towards Josh and others. (I’m sorry josh) My ankles were swollen. My joints hurt. So when I went into labor, I was thrilled that that tiny human living inside my body was about to be evicted. When Ella was finally born, and they placed her in my arms, I experienced something I wasn’t able to fully understand until that very moment- joy. Overwhelming joy. Maybe it was a rush of hormones and the fact that I hadn’t slept in 48 hours or that I just asked my body to do the most physically taxing thing it had ever done before, but I couldn’t help but weep… these were tear