Laboring to be Born Again

Before I was a father I always thought a baby's birth was a relatively simple and clean event. Of course, I had heard my mom and other women talk about the birth of their children and how hard it was, but it was always abstract and they seemed to be proud of the event and happy about it so it couldn't be that bad. And then there are TV and the Movies - they are total liars when it comes to birth. It always seems so pleasant and clean. Yep, when I was younger my picture of birth was a lot like this one of when my son Danny was born:

There were happy moments in the hospital but those were after the labor. The birth process was loud, painful, and messy. For Danny's birth Carrie was in labor for more than 24 hours and had painful contractions the whole time - I've never seen my wife in so much pain. When Danny was born he didn't start out with a sweet peaceful smile on his face. It was more like this:

He was crying and scared of this crazy bright world he was in and I could tell he probably wished he was back safe inside his mommy's tummy.

This week in Sunday School we are going to talk about being born again. I think that the process of being born again is also a lot longer, more painful, intense, and traumatic than we sometimes make it out to be in the calm setting of Church.

To be born again your old self has to spiritually die and you are born a new spiritual creature - committed to living the gospel. This is not an easy process. It involves giving up the world. It involves painful decisions to follow God when so many other impulses push you to follow the crowd.

It means we choose to loose our lives in service to our Father in Heaven when part of us just wants to take care of ourselves. Being born again is closely related to having a "broken heart" and a "contrite spirit" both terms signify sacrifice and trials.

Most of all, I think the reason I've decided being born again is harder than it sounds is my own experience. I wish that after all the chances that I've had to figure all this out and know without a doubt that I am born again and have no desire to sin (Mosiah 5:2) I would have done it. When I was a teenager in Sunday School I'm sure I thought all my leaders had this figured out. I used to think once you went on a mission and got married in the Temple you were pretty much done with any spiritual trials and just had to wait to die and go to the celestial kingdom - sure some tragedy's would happen but you were pretty much on autopilot at that stage - right?

Not really. I am still going through the process of being born again. Some days I feel like Danny did the first day he was born - I want to find a safe place to hide from all the chaos of the world. Elder McConkie taught that being born again "doesn't happen in an instant, it is a process". Each day we have to work through this process by consistently striving to live the gospel. We will have setbacks but with repentance and faith in Christ we can be born again.

Yes, birth can be loud, painful, and messy, but the birth of my two children have probably been the most miraculous days of my life. Even though the process was so difficult and the sacrifices were great (admittedly my wife bore all the pain and I just had to watch), in the end the result could not be more wonderful. A new life. A beautiful baby just arrived from God to become part of our family. All the pain is worth it. All the sacrifices are not in vain. The work of a lifetime to be born of God will give us the foundation we need to find peace and happiness in this life and eternal life with God after this life.