Button Belly

I had a priest at my parish when I was growing up who was from Vietnam, by far one of my favorite priests ever!  When he first arrived at our parish his English was, to say the least, not great.  He often mixed up common phrases and stumbled over his words during his homilies; one of my favorite things he messed up was switching the words in "belly button" to "button belly."  I used to think, in my primitive 5 year old mind, that babies were born into the world from their mother's belly buttons (it makes sense since my mother always told me that my belly button was what attached me to her in her belly).  How wrong I was!  I thought that when the time came, the weird little indent in my belly would just open up and the baby would come right out and the belly button would close back up on it's little wrinkled self...wouldn't that be easier?  I see now, that being 30 weeks pregnant and losing that little indent more every day the belly button doesn't just "open up," nor would my theory be logical that it would be painless...there are many times I am pointing out my belly button to Marty and he goes to touch it and I slap his hand away because my little button is tender now that it's not safely tucked away where it's supposed to be.
As nervous and scared as I am about this little one coming I am so excited to meet her.  I think everyday as I get bigger that she's outgrowing her little home and will soon be joining ours...what an amazing thing to think about while reflecting on our belly buttons...seriously, that little indent kept us alive in our mother's womb and is a constant reminder that we are sustained by something greater than ourselves.  It's our mother before we're born but it reminds us that God is the greatest life sustainer of all when it comes to being a lifeline that continues to nurture us throughout our lives.  Maybe the next time you look at your belly button you'll be reminded that we come from nothing and are brought to life by Christ.