Fertility

Fertility is one of the great wonders of God's creation for me. We have several friends who have struggled with getting pregnant and several friends who just think about a baby and they are pregnant. This past week several different animal's "cycles" have been brought to my mind. I do not have any conclusions, but I just thought I'd share my thoughts.

Birds lay eggs once a year, sit on them for either 30 or 60 days (don't hold me to that), then care for their young. I wonder how small the human population would be if women had to sit on their eggs or be on complete bed rest their entire pregnancy. I think God knew what He was doing when He designed this.

Chimpanzees can only mate once every five years. When they are ovulating, a horrible looking red thing grows on their rear-end. Again, how would this affect the human population.

Dogs can have puppies twice a year. Their pups are very immature when they are born and need a lot of care for the first few weeks.

These few examples just made my wonder why God set women and men up the way He did. Are we supposed to have larger families? I'm not saying we should have a baby every time we ovulate. But, why do we have so many opportunities for children? I mean, we do go through menopause in our 40s or 50s. Meaning that we won't be able to have children forever. Adam and Eve were told to increase in number and subdue the earth. Their sons had to have married their daughters. Are we really increasing in number if we only have two children, or are we just replacing ourselves? Just some thoughts I've been pondering. What do you think?