Call the Midwife! How Will Wisdom Meet You?

Buy or stream "Call the Midwife" on Amazon/Prime Video

"Call the Midwife," that's where Wisdom met me after online Centering Prayer recently.

The phrase that called to me from Wisdom of Solomon 6:12-20 was "appears to them in their paths," but I had no idea how She was going to appear because I was sick with COVID and able to do little after Centering Prayer but watch Netflix and sleep. All my plans for the week were thwarted.

"I don't know how you'll meet me in my path, but I'd love for you to show up somehow," I silently and half-heartedly prayed. 

So I started watching the last BBC episode of season 12 of "Call the Midwife," and smiled when I saw how plans getting thwarted was the theme! With her big plans thwarted, Trixie, one of the midwives, needed to release her grasp on her ideal and open her hands to all of the Plan Bs being offered by her community. In doing so, she found them to be a better fit for her heart.

Says narrator and actress in her eighties Vanessa Redgrave, about  the community's efforts on behalf of Trixie as the last scene unfolds in episode 8:

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"It was makeshift. It was chaotic. It was perfect.

We cannot predict what the fates will bring we can only find strength and hope and survival in each other. There will be new dreams one day, new reasons to go on.

Let in the truth. Embrace the real.

Open your arms to the things you did not look for, for you'll find what you did not seek, be given what you did not know you lacked, and be lavished with a joy that takes your breath away. Here are life's riches next to you..."

It was like Mother Wisdom was speaking right to me (and not just about being sick for a week)! I stopped the show and backed it up numerous times to listen to the voice of one who had born witness to many deaths and births of people and plans. I wrote down her words as an extension to the Wisdom of Solomon, savoring them, allowing them to strengthen my heart and soul. 

A week later as the Centering Prayer group continued with Wisdom of Solomon during the time of Lectio Divina following the silence, two phrases from 7:7-14 called to me: "in her hands uncounted wealth" and "unfailing treasure." I couldn't help but think of how Wisdom opens our eyes to a different kind of wealth, a more lasting treasure. Once more, Mother Wisdom's voice, sounding now like Vanessa Redgrave, echoed in my ear,  "Here are life's riches next to you..."

"Call the Midwife" just may be my new phrase for prayer!  Wisdom is certainly showing Herself to be a dependable and delightful Midwife to the Soul!

(You can watch "Call the Midwife" on PBS or Netflix and/or join me for online Centering Prayer sometime! )