Genesis 35:17 And as she was having great difficulty in childbirth, the midwife said to her, “Don’t despair, for you have another son.”
Recently, I was able to watch video from the 2004 ACHS prom. I was able to see folks whom I barely remember as high school seniors, whom I’ve known for years and years as adults–parents, teachers, upstanding citizens–in all their high school “glory.” Who they were then is not who they are now. They are older, wiser, more mature. Aren’t we all?
Genesis 35:18 As she breathed her last—for she was dying—she named her son Ben-Oni. But his father named him Benjamin.
Yet on the night of their senior prom, they felt incredibly mature. They were as old as they had ever been, and they had more of life figured out than ever before. They didn’t know what they didn’t know. Isn’t that the way of life? We think we know so much until we realize that we don’t. God allows us to continue to grow and mature, so that we aren’t stuck in our current ineptitude (which we don’t even fully realize in the moment).
Genesis 35:19 So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).
Precious Savior, Thank You for the ability to continue to grow and mature. Thank You that each new day is a new chance to get things right, to learn some of the many, many, many things that we don’t know that we don’t know. Help us, no matter the stage of life we are in, to remain mindful of the fact that we still have things to learn. Amen.
Genesis 35:20 Over her tomb Jacob set up a pillar, and to this day that pillar marks Rachel’s tomb.
Have a blessed day.