10 Seconds

“You can do anything for just 10 seconds. Just close your eyes, count to ten, and breathe.” My sister has taught me a lot of things in life; however, on the night my first son was born, her advice stuck with me. My mother was supposed to be in the labor and delivery room with me that day but instead she was at home sick with a stomach virus. Though my sister had just had a baby 8 weeks before my son was born, I asked her to take my mother’s place while I was in labor. This was my first child and I had faith in my husband but I still wasn’t 100% that he wouldn’t pass out in the delivery room. He is very supportive but he’s never birthed a baby before. My sister gladly accepted and held my hand through each and every contraction. At one point, the epidural had failed, the labor was intense, and I honestly felt as though I could go no more. The room had turned to a blur, the pain was unbearable, and I was on the verge of giving up. With tears in her eyes, my sister looked at me and said, 10 seconds. “You can do anything for just 10 seconds. Just close your eyes, count to ten, and breathe.” The nurse gave me one last chance to deliver naturally, so I focused on those 10 seconds like they were the last 10 seconds of my life. One second at a time, one push, 10 seconds. When I hit 10 and took a deep breath, I opened my eyes to a beautiful baby boy.

Life is a lot like labor. We push and push and push and sometimes it seems like we are getting nowhere. Sometimes we feel like giving up, and quite honestly, there are times that life is just exhausting. But when we slow down, focus on the second at hand and breathe we realize how precious life is. When we finally open our eyes we can see the beauty in life, the quality of creation that our Lord and Savior gave us, and feel the peace that comes when we slow down and just breathe. It’s amazing. It may be laboring at times, and it may be exhausting, but the end result is beautiful.

How precious, how amazing will it be when our last days are near, we count to 10, take our last breath, and wake to the beauty of Heaven above?

Take a minute today to slow down and think about that day. Think about the blessings that you are given each day and watch the labor fade away in the past. The pain women experience in labor is only temporary, just as the pain, the struggles, and the exhaustion you face each day will soon fade away in the past.

“I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” John 16:33