Man to Man - "Why You Should Consider Natural Family Planning"

Dear Christian Man,

     If you use Natural Family Planning, it will become an expression and reflection of a way of looking at life that works WITH God's Providence instead of against it. Not only will it foster openness to new life, it will turn sex into something that is received and welcomed between both spouses, rather than a manipulation tool controlled by the latest surgical or chemical means. NFP can cultivate a deep and abiding respect of each other's sexuality. It will also help protect you from making plans based on either fear of the world or lust for the world.

    And why is Natural Family Planning called "natural"? It is natural because it rides on the understanding that every few weeks God has designed it so that your wife's sexual desire for you and the possibility of conceiving come together in a strong tide of sexual passion. Every month, through God's Providence, the possibility of creating new life calls us to reconsider our human priorities. Do we really want to postpone the possible conception of a new little one, made in His image, for that job advance? Or that extra educational degree? Or that bigger house in the suburbs? It is at this time that God gives us an opportunity, through the use of our sexual passion, to be able to LUCIDLY re-evaluate where our real earthly rewards will be. In a home where two hearts are bent on doing the Lord's Will, NFP has a way of stacking up the arguments in favor of life. God can reveal to them whether that inclination to postpone pregnancy once again is for unselfish reasons or if it is born out of a desire for what the world has to offer in its approbations and glamour. Isn't it wonderful, that when our sexual passions are not blunted chemically by the Pill, or psychologically emasculated by sterilization, or pleasurably diminished by barrier methods, God can turn these raging rivers of desire - which we thought would once destroy us in our youth - into watering gardens for God's delight so he can create new people in his image. Passion, now in its true home of marriage, should not be unnaturally fettered, but rather embraced in all its ebbs and flows. You will come to realize that waiting for conception (if waiting is to be) should not be dominated by a fear of the future, but by a waiting for God's greater timing in His plans for our lives.

    Ponder this: isn't it amazing how once a month God has orchestrated it naturally so that mind, heart and body can come together in unity for the possibility of creating a new immortal soul through our earthly physical acts? Feelings of joy, gratitude, and awe will indeed await us when we finally get to hold one more newborn in our hands. You will have one of the few things that will last forever. A child is one of them. Think about that.

Jonathan E. Harris