For One Grieving Infertility

I recently came upon a site called The Rabbit Room, it was shared by our pastor. Another link was on that site to a site called “Every Moment Holy” – as I scrolled, the first thing I saw was something written on infertility, so naturally, it caught my attention. I’ll share the writing and link below…it speaks for itself and I pray it’s a help to you as well.

A LITURGY
For One Grieving Infertility
GUEST WRITER: REAGAN DREGGE

https://www.everymomentholy.com/liturgies

O Spirit who hovered over the womb of the world,
who scattered stars across the sky,
who drew children from dust,
who bid forth fruitfulness,
who lavished love,

how long, O Lord, will longing be my lot?

You search me and know my unbearable barrenness,
the bitter shards of disappointment I carry,
and each craving in the cavern of my heart.

Time wastes away, my tears dry up, and still the ache remains.

I am empty.
I am empty.
My arms are empty.
My womb is empty.
My heart is empty.

Empty handed, I ask:
Let not my lips offer up empty praise,
but a patient readiness.

For, emptied of pride and selfish ambition,
this hollow within me echoes.
I stop and listen to the sound.

Even the darkness is not dark to you,
even barrenness is not barren to you,
but bowed low beneath this ache
I cannot lift my head.

The hem of your garment flutters at my fingertips.

You are the God Who Sees, who knows,
who knits and stretches, meets us on the road,
who hears our pleas and bottles up our tears,
who bears our sorrows and acquaints yourself with grief.

You also were shattered and shorn,
your body broken,
your blood shed.

God of Abraham and Sarah
of Zachariah and Elizabeth,
of Rachel, Boaz, Hannah, and Bathsheba
extend mercy to the broken-hearted, the longsuffering,
the lonesome, forlorn, and forgotten.

Christ who raised the widow’s only begotten,
who took Jairus’ only begotten by the hand,
pour out your endless compassion on me also!

O Winter’s Source and Whisperer of Spring,
when mistaken remarks are made by the well-meaning, make me remember also
the kind word, the gaze of shared grief, the faltering voice of companionship.

O Fatherer-forth and Gatherer God,
remind me how you’ve named my path aright.
What desires of my heart would you not withhold?
What weight of fear would you have me relinquish?
What faith would you increase in bounteous measure?
What mercy might you offer fellow sufferers through me?

O Love that will not let me go, O Seal, O Flame,

through my heart’s dust-dry halls, breathe your rain-drenched breath;
teach me a truer trust, turn my hunger-manger into a cradle-craft
to hold the holy Whole who all full-fills.

What would you conceive in me?
Let me come to you and be filled.
Amen.

COPYRIGHT © 2024 REAGAN DREGGE
WWW.EVERYMOMENTHOLY.COM