The Contraction Is Not the Ending

June 1st, 2026
by Howard Harris Jr.

What on Earth Is Happening? | Monday Reflection | Week 3

"For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us." — Romans 8:18

Sunday you heard a word for the graduates. But honestly it was a word for everyone in the room who is in the middle of something hard and cannot yet see the other side of it.

The birth pangs are real. The pressure is real. The sense that things are getting harder before they get better is not pessimism. It is an accurate reading of where we are in the story. The rabbis saw it coming. The prophets named it. Jesus confirmed it. The whole creation is groaning. You are not imagining it.

But here is the thing about labor. Nobody in the middle of a contraction is thinking about quitting having the baby. The contraction does not mean the birth is not coming. It means the birth is getting closer. The intensity is not evidence that something is going wrong. It is evidence that something is about to arrive.

Most of us are carrying something this week that feels too heavy for where we are in our story. A situation that is harder than it should be this far in. A relationship that is costing more than it is giving back right now. A season that should be over by now but is not.

That is not the end of the story. That is the contraction.

Stay in the room. The birth is closer than it has ever been.