A “Natural” Lifestyle

I am reminded so often how anti-children our society is. It makes me really sad. I could really write at length about this but I am going to focus this entry on what happened at yoga the other day.

I have really come to appreciate yoga in my life. I even really appreciate all the advice and home remedies I get talking to yoga moms. Most of these moms are really into this “natural” style of living. Making sure they feed their family all organic food. Having natural births. So on and so forth. But where this “natural” stuff stops is when it comes to conceiving a child. One of my prenatal yoga teachers (who was also pregnant at the time) told us repeatedly in class and still mentions it in postnatal classes how she is for sure done having babies. On Tuesday she brought it up again. Another person in class was saying how she wanted to have another baby and she responded with, “Why would you want to do that? I am definitely not having anymore kids. My husband got fixed.”

How in the world is having your husband “fixed” a natural thing to do??? This is coming from a group of ladies that believe you should squirt breastmilk in your baby’s eye if they have pink eye instead of getting an antibiotic. In using vinegar water instead of hydrocortisone cream to clear up a rash. In calling contractions, urges because contractions is too negative of a word. (Not that I think that any of this is unreasonable. I would actually do all of these things.) So where does the disconnect happen between this belief that we should live as naturally as possible and then doing unnatural things to not have a baby. It doesn’t make sense. The most natural thing in the world is to get married and have babies. If you are married you are supposed to have babies. Not on your timetable but God’s timetable.

I was recently talking about this with another person and they made a good point. “We have forgotten that we are subjects of God.” We forget that God is the one in charge, not us. God sends us babies when God wants to and if we choose to get married, we have to accept this. Marriage is inherently tied to being open to new life. Not just when it is convenient. Not just when it is good for our career. Not just when we think we can afford it. Not just when it fits into the “plan”. But always. I know it is hard to give up this control and leave it in God’s hands. Really hard and inconvenient sometimes but it’s how God intended.

It’s natural.