NFP – it’s good for you…

This month’s column is the conclusion of an article taken from tobinstitute.org written by Lisa Price, who was accredited to teach the Billings Method in 2012 while still living in Trinidad. Lisa now resides in British Columbia, Canada with husband Dominic and their three children. Part 1 appeared in the December 10, 2017 issue.

Living Natural Family Planning (NFP) has been a profoundly spiritual experience—it points me to something higher than myself. The countless ways in which it has taught my husband and I about our faith, brought us closer to God, and strengthened our marriage would require a second blogpost.

So often the body is rejected as the lesser aspect of one’s personhood; we think: “Spirit, good. Body, bad.” Yet, man is a unity of body and soul which are both good. Without the body, there would be no person.

The creation of man and woman is the pinnacle—the highlight—of creation; God creates the human body and breathes life into it. When God created us female, He created us with the capacity to conceive and bear life. This capacity is both a tremendous gift and a great responsibility.

The language of the body urges us to faithfully embrace our role as the stewards and protectors of our fertility, regardless of whether it is actualised through physical motherhood.

Is living NFP always easy? Any honest person who lives this life will admit that it is not always easy, because it places demands on a couple to grow, to be whole, to sacrifice, and to live a full existence. But nothing worth fighting for comes easy: building a career, living a healthy lifestyle, strengthening a marriage, raising a family, parenting, running a business, living one’s faith, remaining committed to anything or anyone.

Life teaches us that there are no shortcuts if you want to truly reap the rewards. Shortcuts like crash diets, stealing, and cheating may bring temporary pleasure, but in the long run, they are disastrous. When it comes to our fertility, it’s tempting to listen to the voice of society which tells us to take the shortcut…the voice that says take harmful pills or injections, implant destructive IUDs, mutilate yourself through sterilisation procedures and forget about one of the gifts that makes you—YOU! And this goes for the men too…Without them, fertility is fruitless. So, is it easy? Not always. Worth it? Absolutely!

I tell my story in the hopes that it might give courage to other women and couples who are afraid of grappling with this issue or sharing the light of NFP with others. Maybe you have made choices regarding your fertility that you regret and you want to make a different choice now. If you are seeking something more, the good news is that you do have a choice and you are worth the very best in life, because you are priceless.

NFP is so much more than we give it credit for. Fertility awareness will reveal things to you about yourself that you never even expected, both physically and spiritually.

It is good for women, it is good for couples, and it is good for families. I encourage all women and couples to embrace who you are and the God-given gift of your fertility. In the words of St Catherine of Sienna, “Become who you are and you will set the world on fire.”