The Grass Is Always Greener...

One of the hardest parts of infertility is being in the "wrong" life phase. All of your friends are in the parenting life phase; you are left behind.

I was reminded today that this feeling is not unique to infertility. Many people in other life phases long to be in a different one:

• Kids long to be grown up.
• Single people long to be married.
• Parents long to be past the  (teething, Terrible Two's, teenager, etc.)  phase.
• Empty nesters long for their kids to be young again.

The old adage seems true: "The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence." For those of us in the midst of infertility, having a baby will not end our longing. This side of eternity, we will always have something else to long for. 

This morning, I came across 1 Corinthians 7. Paul was writing about marriage and singleness, saying that both are good. In verse 7, he says, "But each has his own gift from God, one of one kind and one of another." Our current life phase, no matter how difficult, is a gift from God. Paul goes on to say, "Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him" (1 Cor. 7:17a).

We do not get to pick a life phase and stay there. Life is fluid, changing continually. Let's live fully now in our current phase. Today, I long to have children, but don't. Instead, I get unlimited time with my husband and best friend, just the two of us. There was a time in which that's all I wanted (ahem, when he was in law school). After children arrive, we might miss our time alone together. So, as we take steps toward that next phase, let's soak up today!