This is the first in a series of posts chronicling my wife’s pregnancy and welcoming of our second child. For those just joining me, you can read the backstory here. We chose not to make any announcements until after twelve weeks passed, and I’ve actually decided to do this on a whim. I view this as a time for celebration and an exercise in faith, focus, and laying things bare for the world to see.
As a creative person, I’m compelled to share this for two reasons: (1) because I don’t feel I have a choice; (2) I don’t share enough. Given the history, some may think I’m jumping the gun by posting this, but that’s part of what’s driving me–my mind state has changed. No longer do I “prepare for the worst and hope for the best.” I don’t entertain the thought of anything going wrong.
After a lot of study and reflection over the past few months, I’ve realized that we leave a little too much to chance, attribute positive (and negative) outcomes to luck, and in a way use God as a cop out when we don’t fully understand something. People sometimes pray to God and still create space to worry. A statement like: “If it be the Lord’s will” (especially following or even during prayer) is worry talk to me. Speaking from experience, if you pray for something and have faith that it will happen, then that should be the end of it. My point is that our thoughts, good, bad, or otherwise determine a lot of what happens in our lives. I won’t be naive and say in every situation, but more often than not, I believe it’s true.
