Once you leave the womb,” began Kalem, “you will have to learn everything from birth and all throughout your life on the Earth, even as you grow older. You will find in your seasons on the Earth,” he instructed the soon-to-be-born twins, “that there will always be something new to learn and experience. Although you will not be able to speak intelligible sentences until you are about twelve months old, you will soon discover that you can make sounds as infants. You will quickly learn which sounds will cause your Earth-parents and others to respond to you and your needs. Nor will you be able to see as everyone else does until you are about four months old. You will have something like a haze over your eyes. When the haze is gone, you will be able to focus on things around you,” the angel continued.
“For the first six months of your life,” Almara interjected, “your only sustenance or food will consist of breast milk from your mother and soft foods that can be easily digested. You will not have teeth and will not be able to feed or do anything for yourself during this time,” the angel explained to the twins. “Also, by the age of six months, you will learn to sit up by yourself and maybe crawl …”
The reality of what was being said hit Joyce like a spiritual sledgehammer!
“No teeth! Can’t feed myself? Can’t walk or sit up by myself?” Joyce gasped. “What about my adventures? I won’t be able to do anything during this time? Except be a baby!” she realized with horror. “Adam and Eve didn’t go through this! So why should we? It’s not fair,” she mind-sputtered as her new heart sank from the disappointment of being a, a … baby.
Angel Almara knew how much Joyce liked to talk and explore. He understood that this was a great setback for her.
“Joyce, remember—you will be an infant. You will have to grow into everything and will have many adventures as you grow. Even though you will not be able to walk until you become a year old or so, you will have plenty of adventures all throughout your life,” the angel reassured her.
“Then I don’t know if I will like this. Since we are growing so quickly in here, I thought …” Joyce trailed off as she thought of this new development.
She had already observed the adventures of many of the people on the Earth. She’d caught glimpses of her friends Sally and Amelia in their seasons on the Earth. Joyce knew she would have as good, if not better adventures as they. They had all trained together after receiving their warrior gifts and talents. Joyce knew she was destined to have as many adventures as they’d had. She couldn’t have those adventures if she was forced to be a, a … a baby!
Jeffrey lay back in his space in the womb and listened to the chatter between his twin and the angels. He secretly liked the thought of being born as a baby into the Earth. He had seen many of his friends, even the Son, go through the process of being born as babies into the Earth. He had received good reports from them when most of them returned to Heaven. He didn’t understand what his twin was fussing about. They would eventually get to the place she wanted to be. Jeffrey was prepared to sit back and enjoy the ride.
But he knew Joyce would not be satisfied with their predicament now that she knew she would not have any immediate adventures. He had seen Joyce during many of their classes in Heaven. She was one of the most adventurous of all the pre-born spirits. He wondered why Almighty God had placed them together as twins. They were very different. She was adventurous—he was laid back. Jeffrey didn’t understand the choice but wasn’t worried about it either. He was excited because he had never guessed he would be part of a matched set on the Earth.
“I know what you thought, child,” Angel Almara interjected gently, “but you will be on human-time when you are born. Things will slow down for you. And while we are on the subject of time, you will also age according to Earth-age as well.”
“Earth-age?” said Jeffrey, snapping out of his reverie. “What’s that, angel?”
Angel Kalem resumed instruction. “Remember this: a day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as a day to God. You have lived in eternity since the moment God created you. You have no concept of Earth-time. Even though you have been with God for a very long time according to Earth standards, it is but a moment to God and to you.”
“Oh,” said Joyce, slightly understanding this concept of time. “So we will grow older how, angel?” she asked.
“Your lives will age according to the times and seasons of the Earth when you are born. Time is broken down into segments called seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, and years. A second is the smallest unit of time you will have to deal with for age purposes,” explained angel Kalem. “A second passes by very quickly—like this …” He illustrated by snapping his angelic fingers. “Listen …”
The babies hadn’t realized they now had something new attached to the sides of their heads … ears. They instinctively turned these organs toward the new sound they hadn’t heard before.
“What’s that?” asked Jeffrey as he listened. “Tick, tick, tick …”
“That,” explained Angel Almara, “is the sound of time. Each tick you hear is one second. There are sixty seconds in one minute so a minute will go by more slowly than a second.”
Understanding dawned on the twins at the same time. “Ah-ha. Got it!” they mind-shouted their understanding.
“From the moment you are conceived in the Earth-realm, time starts for you. According to the way Almighty God has set things up for humans, you are in your mother’s womb for approximately nine months before being born into the Earth-realm. From the day you are born, your age is numbered by days. You will learn more about this later in your lives as you enter a place called school,” Almara continued.
“For right now, though, understand that you are about to enter a realm … uh-oh, hold on. Another growth spurt approaches,” warned Kalem as the atmosphere became charged with activity.
The angels realized they were coming to the end of the pre-born learning phase for the soon-to-be newborns. They spoke quickly.
“You will not remember your pre-born existence. But know that Almighty God will be with you always,” the angels continued, taking turns in the explanation. “When you are born into the Earth, you will each have another set of angels different from us. You won’t know they are there but they will be with you for your protection. Blessings to you, Jeffrey and Joyce,” concluded Almara and Kalem as they whooshed back to the Earthbound clinic in eternity for their next assignments.
Jeffrey and Joyce experienced another growth spurt, their last, as their Earth-mother Marie Jones began contractions. But now, they each had an additional concern as well.
“What’s happening?” Joyce shouted, afraid, not knowing what to do. “I don’t want new angels! Come back, Almara! Come back … please,” she fretted. “Is there anyone here to help us?” she cried, trying to grab hold of the walls of the uterus. Her hands slid down the embryonic-fluid slicked walls. She felt herself turning around and attempted to stop the action. “Jeffrey, help me!”
“Joyce, I can’t help you because I’m falling down!” Jeffrey cried with as much fear as his sister. He, too, was trying to grab hold of the slickened walls to no avail. He moved into the birth canal as their imminent birth approached.