Quiet times in my house are rare, so on a summer morning
after some have left for work and the others are still asleep, I enjoy being
able to think. I know that mothers with big families and/or small children can relate! The other day, though, the silence felt heavy and made me start thinking
about my mom. It will be 20 years in December since she died at the too-young
age of 64. I still miss her terribly and hope that someday I’ll see her again,
but I really have no idea about that.
Thinking about my mom made me think about how much mothers
(some – the normal ones, anyway) love their babies. The ones I’m thinking about
– like me and the women I know – love their babies before they’re even born,
before they’ve even seen them. They love them unconditionally, which means that
this same child can (and probably will—maybe more than once) rip his mother’s
heart out and although she may be very sad and angry, she will still love him.
This parent* – child relationship is the only time humans love this way. This
is the only “unconditional” love.
Thinking about unconditional love made me think about
abortion and how it’s changed human relationships. If you know me, you know
that I am passionately prolife. I cannot understand abortion or the people who
support it. It seems obvious to me that it’s the murder of an innocent human
being and therefore wrong. I recently read an excellent memoir about prolife
activism – Abandoned by Dr. Monica
Miller – in which the author explains that abortion is not only murder but the vilest
form of rejection. Aborted babies
are ripped from their mothers’ wombs – what should be the safest place in the
world – and stripped of their humanity, even considered less than human. They
are implicitly declared not worthy of inclusion in our human race; they are
nothing -- rejected, unloved, unwanted.
Making abortion legal 40 years ago not only didn’t make it
rare or safe, but it also permanently altered how we view each other. What was
once generally assumed to be a sure and unconditional love – that love between
a mother and her baby – is now not unconditional at all. In fact, this love is so conditional that a mother has the right to not only not love, but to hate to the greatest
degree – by arranging for the murder of her own child.
Now, “sacrifice” no longer necessarily means giving up
something in order to benefit another. Rather, it’s been twisted in the most
evil way. Sacrifice now may not be the mother giving up something in order to
love and care for her child, but possibly sacrificing her child so that she
doesn’t have to relinquish anything.
It’s hard for me to look at pregnant women and mothers of
babies and young children without recalling the statistic that one out of three
women will have had an abortion by the age of 45. When I see a young mom or one
with a big belly, it makes me wonder…..did she ever have an abortion? And if
she did, how then can she really love her other children? What if they find out
that their mother aborted their sibling? Will they wonder, “Why not me?”
Abortion is murder. It’s a sad and harsh day, but a great
day, when people who’ve participated in this atrocity finally acknowledge what
they’ve done. While unspeakably difficult, acknowledgement is the critical
first step. Thankfully, there is a great, healing Physician who is able and
willing to forgive all sins when one truly repents. If this is you, it is my
most sincere hope that you will recognize Jesus Christ for who He is – the Messiah.
He is “the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” As He said, no one can come to the Father except through Him. He can and will save you and heal
your broken heart if you ask. It will take time and support is strongly
recommended. Visit http://www.rachelsvineyard.org/
or http://www.silentnomoreawareness.org/.
If you live in Livingston County, Michigan, there is confidential group and
individual support available at Pregnancy Help Clinic http://www.pregnancyhelpclinic.com/
*Normal fathers love unconditionally, too.
