Grow Slow, Grow Strong

Patience is a virtue. Patience is a virtue I don’t always have.
Sometimes I’m great at waiting. But sometimes I’m not.

Approximately 9 weeks ago I found out I was pregnant. And I wanted to tell everyone! Waiting for 8 weeks until the first trimester was over was very difficult!

Now that it’s all a bit more public, I want to have more of a baby bump. You know, to confirm that there is actually something in there and I’m not just making it up! I want to have the scan. I want to feel something (other than sickness!)
But I have to wait. I have to be patient.

It’s really easy to want things to happen quickly, to want the baby as soon as possible and to start the next stage of life. But there is a reason why it takes 9 months to grow a baby, and a reason why we go through life in seasons.

Howies used to have a series of posters that used the slogan ‘grow slow, grow strong’. (I tried to find a photo but had no success)

Sometimes in our modern culture we think fast is better but that’s not always the case. When trees grow slowly their rings are closer together and they produce a much stronger wood which will last longer. It’s the patience that gives the tree its strength and sets it apart from other wood.

I need to wait and let my baby to grow at the right speed because then it has time to develop properly and grow strong. And I need the next few months to prepare myself for one of the biggest changes in my life.

And while I wait, patiently, I hope to grow along with my baby so that we are both ready for the next stage of life. Growing together, slowly but strongly.

He has made everything beautiful in its time.
Ecclesiastes 3:11

And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised.
Hebrews 6:15

A patient man has great understanding, but a quick-tempered man displays folly.
Proverbs 14:29