Tuesday, October 11, 2011

TRIAL, TRAIL, TRAVEL, TRAVAIL, TRAVEIL.

photo taken on October 8, 2011 of my wife's and my hands forming a heart
on top of our hope to be soon to be delivered baby.



"And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered."
Revelations 12:2
There is nothing more sacred, more God-like, then being part of the creation process and witnessing a Son or Daughter of God enter into mortality. The woman’s body is truly a “temple” and the portal between heaven and earth. I have been studying the word “trial” lately and the importance of going through trials. There are a lot of words that are similar. I like this sequence of five words:

trial, trail, travel, travail, traveil.


We all go through personal trials.. it is like our personal trail to walk on. Walking on this trail, we travel. Usually it is a difficult journey. Women go on this journey when in labor, and we call this “being in travail”. Each of us, as we seek the Lord must go through what I call traveil.


TRA: means to “go across”, “over”, or “through”

VAIL: come from root word (valere) means to be strong , to be of worth, power, strength, to be of use or service, to be of value or worth

TRAVEIL… (to go across, or over or through the veil)

Interesting side note: In the New Testament, child-bearing has been always expressed by the word “travail”, but in the early editions, the word “travel”, (meaning to make a difficult journey), and “travail”, (meaning to suffer (childbirth) were both spelled the same.

When you travel or “in travail”.. you are moving from point A to point B.. never to return as the same person again. The birth process is very similar to the rebirth process that we all need to go through. All of us evidentially need to be spiritually reborn again. We read about this process over and over again the Book of Mormon.

 Going through the process of travail/traveil requires submission., natural childbirth being the ultimate submission. To claim victory, one must go through the process of casting and placing everything on the altar. Surrendering all. There is a cleansing effect in this submission.. and to not fight the pain, or the process that is might cause.

We see the example of Christ in Gethsemane.. The Atonement was made possible because Christ DID NOT FIGHT IT or RESIST IT. He was a perfect clean vessel. He did not want anything that would block or take away the pain. When on the cross, we read that the soldiers offered him vinegar.. I learned recently that it possibly could have been his mother Mary who brought this “vinegar” (or special wine mixture) that when partaken of, it would help with the pain. (THIS VINEGAR MIXTURE IS WHAT THE WOMAN WOULD DRINK WHILE IN CHILD LABOR TO EASE THE PAIN. HIS MOTHER WANTED TO EASE HIS PAIN SO HE WOULDN'T HAVE TO SUFFER.) Christ refused THE DRINK BECAUSE HE KNEW HE NEEDED TO GO THROUGH THE PROCESS AND FEEL IT ALL.

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