photo credit here

it’s a catch phrase we use – with a wink and a smile – when we’ve put on a couple of pounds.  pair it with an elbow bounced against husband’s ribs and a playful swing of the hips and you get the picture.

but what if those pounds aren’t just the chocolate croissant over the bran muffin?

what if those pounds are the weight of an entire being –  being made from scratch from the same old recipe: bone and sinew and spirit, marinated in mystery … the proverbial bun in the oven?

must   more to love always bring with it more weight to bear?

because Sonya is very visibly pregnant ( ahem … notice how i softened that one, soul-friend? ), she has done much talking – at times to complete strangers – about the miracle that is being knit in her womb. and though i struggle with knowing what to say — walking this road of heaven-going and earth-coming, with understanding as a destination beyond our reach — i have known one thing since the moment i heard the news.

that this babe, this gift of womb-kick, of hearts tugged, of wounds reopened …
will deliver, even as (s)he is being delivered.

this child will be  more to love, in a time when loving more

is a radical act of courage, of hope.

when giving more of mother-heart, of father-protection,

seems the most dangerous mission field on the planet.

it requires trust:  that the God who has given them   more to love will grow their hearts, steady, strong – swell them big enough to accomplish the task.

let us keep loving them well in our prayers, friends.  your support and encouragement means more than you know.  let us work to give away that very thing that we’re all so desperate for:   more love.