The Pain of Motherhood

The Pain of Motherhood
Genesis 3: 14-16a

I wrote an e-mail to someone this week and had an astonishing reply which, after the main part of the message, went on, “Oh, by the way. . . .” Actually it didn’t literally say that, but that is how it came across, because the news that followed in the incidental extra paragraph had nothing to do with the matter I had written about: “We have been going through in vitro fertilization; we had the embryos inserted this morning. We are praying they will implant, and that the pregnancy tests in eleven and fifteen days go well.” I knew the couple had been unable to have a baby, but I didn’t know where they were going next with this question. “OH WOW!” I replied...