Maternal Instinct

I recently had a baby after a 7-year hiatus.

As soon as I found out we were expecting, I resolved to do everything within my power to deliver a healthy baby.

In the months I was pregnant, I did however spend alot of time thinking. I thought up answers to the questions I expected people would ask. I thought up rejoinders to the wise cracks and comments people would make. I planned how I would ensure there was enough personal space between me and people so as to discourage those who just have to touch a pregnant belly! Yes, I steeled myself for all eventualities.

Then there was the issue of the birth itself. How would I handle the pain? Would I know when I was in labour? I had been pregnant three times before this, but I thought that I had forgotten everything!

And closer and closer to the birth, I began to wonder how I would effectively care for Baby. How would I handle the sleepless nights? How would I rebalance the work-life scale now that a little baby was being brought into the mix? What would I do for child care? I tasked myself on so many points, it was just by His grace my blood pressure did not spike.

I put myself through all that simply because I did not trust my maternal instinct.

"Then the Lord formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into man's nostrils, and man became a living person." Genesis 2:7

We are not told that God breathed life into any animal that He created. But man is different because he is in the likeness of God. God imparted a bit of Himself into man and that is what gave man the power to have dominion. It gave man the intellect he needed to rule what God created. It also gave man the ability to create and destroy. So, provided we have the breath of God, His Spirit, within us, power is available to do all things. Know then, that if God gives you a task, He has already breathed into you, everything you need to carry out that task. The very ability had been breathed into you at the very moment when you were conceived in your mother’s womb.

As soon as Baby was born, everything that God had deposited within me to care for him kicked in. My bundle of joy had arrived and whether by my own estimation I was ready or not, I had to rise to the occasion. Baby is now 9 months old. I have been able, somehow, by His grace, to swing it. And if I may say so myself, I am doing rather well, after all, I am still holding down my marriage, my home, my job and various ministry activities. Thank God that all I needed, He had already supplied. All I had to do was dig down deep, fetch it, and run with it. And this is true for all God-given instincts.

But what is instinct? For our purpose, let’s go with a natural or innate impulse, inclination or tendency, aptitude or gift. So, you might have artistic, inventive, creative, entrepreneurial or any other type of instincts. Those instincts were deposited in you for a reason and they are key to your purpose in life - all that He has called you to be, you already are!

But instinct requires expression.  Our very survival as human beings requires the maternal instinct, but many of us have other instincts that we hide like the one talent that was buried in the ground (Matthew 25:14-30).

"The best thing is to follow your instincts without too much reflection." Albert Einstein.

Don’t over think it or as is said in business circles, you could suffer “paralysis by analysis.” Like Nike says, “Just do it!”

The expression of your instinct requires you to be ready to work at it, just like the gentlemen who were given five and two talents in the parable of the talents. They worked, and they improved their gifts. And it was to their own benefit. So also, you do stand to gain if you are prepared to do the work.

But back to the maternal instinct. I would like to appreciate all mothers who suffer, love, are patient, endure pain, and work for the good of their children. I celebrate your maternal instinct in this time when women abort, abuse, and neglect their own children. Your efforts shall never be in vain! God bless you all!

P.S.: This blog was written two months ago, during Mother's day weekend in Nigeria. It is featured in the April 2015 edition of Effectual Magazine. Please click here and be inspired!