The fullness of time

Recently I sat with a pregnant friend as she waited to give birth. 

The estimated delivery date was a mystery, since different doctors had given different dates. I accompanied her for an ultrasound and the doctor said she was past nine months pregnant. 

That night after the ultrasound, she began to feel sharp pain, and continued to do so for two nights. Finally, on the third morning, she called me and I drove her to the hospital. 

Then the waiting began. 

I sat with her for about four hours in the maternity ward, watching her cringe and relax, cringe and relax as the pain came and went. Still, her water bag did not burst. We walked around the hospital and talked. Still no sign of delivery. We sat and watched other pregnant women pace the corridors. Still nothing.

Tired but nonetheless eager to hold her baby, I told her to call me once she went into labour and went home for a rest. I texted her a few times that night. Nothing had changed. She was still in pain, and still waiting.

Then it happened. At about 6am, the water bag finally burst, and she went into labour. Her baby was born about four hours later, at 10:15am. I got to hold the baby an hour later.

The whole experience taught me a lot about waiting. 

Because really, there was nothing much to do, except wait for the signs of labour, and for delivery, however long that may take. I kept thinking of the verse in Galatians 4:4 "But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son..."

The fullness of time. Who knows when that is, apart from God, who ironically, is outside time? There is no rushing the moment. No human engineering and manipulation and conniving can summon the fullness of time prematurely. 

We can only wait, and pray, and trust.