I’m pretty sure that there isn’t a chapter on “Having Your Baby in the Middle of a Pandemic” in any of the baby books that I’ve been reading.

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My wife and I are due to have our first child in less than a month, and we could never have expected or imagined the circumstances that we would be bringing our first child into.

In early March, I had the amazing honor of going to Pastor Kevin Gerald’s book launch. (Shameless plug: We all definitely have more time now, and you should read and soak in what is in his book Naked and Unafraid.)

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While at his book launch, I had the opportunity to ask Ps. Kevin a question, “If you were to tell an expecting father one thing before the birth of his first child, what would it be?” I will never forget his answer,

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“Every blessing is a burden, and every burden is a blessing. It just depends on what you call it.” 

What I noticed before the craziness of this season was that I had two minds about having a baby in about a month. The first mind I had was that I wanted to meet my baby today. I wanted to hold it, speak to it, name it. That was 100% true. The second mind was that I wanted to soak up every last second that my wife and I had together before we had our first child and our lives were forever changed. That was also 100% true. 

The same is true of every blessing and burden in our life. It can be 100% a blessing and 100% a burden.

Maybe you’re like me and you were expecting something different in this season. You had a plan to go on a refreshing and relaxing vacation. You had a plan for what Easter would look like this year. You had a plan for what was going to help the church grow in this season. And now that has been thrown out the window. My question to you today is:

“What are you calling this season of ministry?”

To be honest, when Heather and I pray over our meals, they are usually just shallow prayers. But a few days ago, when we were praying, God asked me, ‘what are you calling this season of being with your wife every day, all day?’ I immediately became so thankful for my wife, and this really special circumstance that not every father and husband gets before the birth of their first child. 

Don’t get me wrong, there were parts of this week when I was snippy, impatient, and treating my wife in a way that she never deserved. Yet God was leading me to call it a blessing. I GET to spend all day, every day, in close proximity to my wife in the month leading up to my first child. Not, I have to. 

This week and this season, let’s allow the author of our faith to change the narrative of our stories. Let’s give Him permission to change the climate of this season in our hearts and minds. 

So I want to challenge you and ask you the question, “What are you calling this season of ministry?” Is it a blessing to us that we get to build a brand-new website that is more engaging? Is it a blessing that we have to redesign our org charts? Is it a blessing that we have to change how much we communicate with our teams and what we communicate? Is it a blessing that you get to spend more time at home with your family?

Is it a blessing or a burden?