In case you were wondering about the title of the blog, it is a reference to Genesis 18, where old, infertile Sarah is promised by a mysterious stranger that she would yet have a child...and she does what we'd all expect her to do: she laughs.
A good year or two into this struggle to get pregnant, I thought about how often infertility shows up in the Bible. How many women are barren...or struck barren...and I at one point had huge plans to dig into all of these stories and perhaps write something - an article, a series of blog posts, a book? - about them all. Maybe this is a good space to dig into a few of them, maybe not. But for today, here's the story of the blog's namesake. I feel in good company with Sarah.
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God appeared to Abraham at the Oaks of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance of his tent. It was the hottest part of the day. He looked up and saw three men standing. He ran from his tent to greet them and bowed before them.
He said, "Master, if it please you, stop for a while with your servant. I'll get some water so you can wash your feet. Rest under this tree. I'll get some food to refresh you on your way, since your travels have brought you across my path."
They said, "Certainly. Go ahead."
Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah. He said, "Hurry. Get three cups of our best flour; knead it and make bread."
Then Abraham ran to the cattle pen and picked out a nice plump calf and gave it to the servant who lost no time getting it ready. Then he got curds and milk, brought them with the calf that had been roasted, set the meal before the men, and stood there under the tree while they ate.
The men said to him, "Where is Sarah your wife?"
He said, "In the tent."
One of them said, "I'm coming back about this time next year. When I arrive, your wife Sarah will have a son." Sarah was listening at the tent opening, just behind the man.
Abraham and Sarah were old by this time, very old. Sarah was far past the age for having babies. Sarah laughed within herself, "An old woman like me? Get pregnant? With this old man of a husband?"
God said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh saying, 'Me? Have a baby? An old woman like me?' Is anything too hard for God? I'll be back about this time next year and Sarah will have a baby."
Sarah lied. She said, "I didn't laugh," because she was afraid.
But he said, "Yes you did; you laughed."
God visited Sarah exactly as he said he would; God did to Sarah what he promised: Sarah became pregnant and gave Abraham a son in his old age, and at the very time God had set. Abraham named him Isaac. When his son was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him just as God had commanded.
Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born.
Sarah said,
(Genesis 18 and 21, The Message)
A good year or two into this struggle to get pregnant, I thought about how often infertility shows up in the Bible. How many women are barren...or struck barren...and I at one point had huge plans to dig into all of these stories and perhaps write something - an article, a series of blog posts, a book? - about them all. Maybe this is a good space to dig into a few of them, maybe not. But for today, here's the story of the blog's namesake. I feel in good company with Sarah.
---
God appeared to Abraham at the Oaks of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance of his tent. It was the hottest part of the day. He looked up and saw three men standing. He ran from his tent to greet them and bowed before them.
He said, "Master, if it please you, stop for a while with your servant. I'll get some water so you can wash your feet. Rest under this tree. I'll get some food to refresh you on your way, since your travels have brought you across my path."
They said, "Certainly. Go ahead."
Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah. He said, "Hurry. Get three cups of our best flour; knead it and make bread."
Then Abraham ran to the cattle pen and picked out a nice plump calf and gave it to the servant who lost no time getting it ready. Then he got curds and milk, brought them with the calf that had been roasted, set the meal before the men, and stood there under the tree while they ate.
The men said to him, "Where is Sarah your wife?"
He said, "In the tent."
One of them said, "I'm coming back about this time next year. When I arrive, your wife Sarah will have a son." Sarah was listening at the tent opening, just behind the man.
Abraham and Sarah were old by this time, very old. Sarah was far past the age for having babies. Sarah laughed within herself, "An old woman like me? Get pregnant? With this old man of a husband?"
God said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh saying, 'Me? Have a baby? An old woman like me?' Is anything too hard for God? I'll be back about this time next year and Sarah will have a baby."
Sarah lied. She said, "I didn't laugh," because she was afraid.
But he said, "Yes you did; you laughed."
God visited Sarah exactly as he said he would; God did to Sarah what he promised: Sarah became pregnant and gave Abraham a son in his old age, and at the very time God had set. Abraham named him Isaac. When his son was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him just as God had commanded.
Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born.
Sarah said,
God has blessed me with laughterShe also said,
and all who get the news will laugh with me!
Whoever would have suggested to Abraham
that Sarah would one day nurse a baby!
Yet here I am! I've given the old man a son!
(Genesis 18 and 21, The Message)
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