I know today is one of those holidays that some people love and some people love to hate. I have been on both sides of that paper heart. I remember how empty a day like this can feel with no one to celebrate and no one to celebrate me.
I also know the joy of frills on this doily-dressed day. And while I much prefer the fullness of flowers and chocolates to the emptying of tears and tissue boxes, celebrating love is a gift any day and for every day. Life can be heated and hard. Love eases everything. The world doesn’t need us to have Valentines. It just needs us to love. ... See MoreSee Less
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Reality can be absurd.
During an unusual cold snap in South Florida, there were news stories cautioning people to watch out for frozen iguanas falling from trees. Days later those stories were replaced by articles about people selling iguana meat – 𝑡𝑜 𝑒𝑎𝑡. I live in North Florida so when the temperature dipped, I only had to worry about covering my plants and wearing closed-toe shoes. Still, I followed the stories about the non-native iguanas and the people who eat them.
More recently, I have been reading about sightings of non-native wild monkeys in the area and other parts of the state. Apparently, some of these monkeys are infected with a deadly strain of Herpes B. These herpes positive primates have been known to attack when their territory feels threatened. So, now not only do Floridians have to worry about being bonked in the head by a comatose iguana, or whether it’s actually chicken in our Brunswick stew or reptile meat, we also have to worry about diseased monkeys charging us.
And people think life here is just sandy beaches and lulling surf.
I often contemplate the absurdity of life. There is so much truth that reads like fiction. So many realities that seem fantastical. One of the biggest of which is that there exists a God who so madly loves us that he died for us. Of all the ways he could have mesmerized, awed, and astonished us to show his love, he chose death. I can’t say that would have been my pick. On the surface, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense that he willingly gave his life out of love for us. When you contemplate the suffering that preceded his death, it feels as absurd as free-falling iguanas. “But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us,” (Romans 5:8). Much to the hindrance of my relationship with God, I have struggled with the reality of this truth. How could he possibly know me so completely and still love me unconditionally? How could he identify all my weaknesses and still want me? How could he acknowledge all my failings and forgive me? And my favorite wondering of all, how could he allow me to suffer when in a breath he could remove the entirety of the world’s suffering?
In a word, every one of my questions can be answered with the same one that prompted Jesus to die so that we may have a chance to live: love. The immensity of his love feels like an absurdity that I don’t deserve. Yet despite my inherent unworthiness, he loves anyway and all the way. Accepting this as truth changes the way I see everything. My heart smiles just thinking about it.
Of course, for a moment I digress and wonder about the plausibility of a heart’s smile. Then I remember there are stranger truths and carry on with my smiling heart and my loving God.
𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑘 𝑉𝑎𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑒’𝑠 𝐷𝑎𝑦 𝑖𝑠 𝑐𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑏𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝐽𝑒𝑠𝑢𝑠’𝑠 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑏𝑦 𝑓𝑎𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑜𝑙𝑑. 𝐼𝑡’𝑠 𝑎𝑙𝑠𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑚𝑦 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦. 𝐷𝑜𝑒𝑠𝑛’𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑜𝑤𝑛 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑡 𝑠𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑒 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡? 𝑆𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐻𝑖𝑠 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑙𝑙.
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I was subbing for a first-grade class when I received a text message from an unknown number. It was from a family friend’s college-aged daughter seeking help for her friend considering an abortion. She knew that I had volunteered at the Women’s Help Center, a pro-life organization that supports women throughout pregnancy, and asked if I would be willing to speak to her friend so that she understood all her options.
𝘊𝘩𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦.
Of course, I said yes. As implausible as it is to think any of us has the right to terminate life, it is a legal choice in our society. A choice that is clearly devoid of God who created us out of love and with the innate purpose to love. Taking God out of the miracle of motherhood feels illogical, but there are many who do. Even biologically speaking, motherhood is the most natural thing in the world. Not just our bodies’ ability to create life but the innate desire to protect, nurture, and sacrifice for our offspring. In the animal and the human species, this is the norm, and while it is standard it is also fierce. Everything else – including our own survival is secondary to the “it’s in our nature to nurture” phenomenon hard-wired in most living things. It hardly seems like a matter of choice.
Being in a room full of six-year-olds is a frenzy of joy. They are dynamic, unique, curious, and flat-out funny. They give spontaneous hugs, ask personal questions, listen attentively when a middle-aged woman talks about cats, and without hesitation trust you with their day. They are also complicated like the rest of humanity and will become increasingly so. Even as an outsider, I can see their proclivities, strengths, struggles, and basic need to be loved and accepted. They have a keen sense of the world around them. They are paying attention. They are fully alive. Each one a choice.
By the end of that school day, I learned that the woman made an appointment to have an abortion. She was still agreeable to speak with me and was supposed to call me the next day. She never did. Her friend explained to me that she didn’t want to be talked out of her decision. I called the young woman and assured her I was here if she wanted to talk, and would be after her appointment as well. Not to judge or lecture or to act like a caricature of a pro-life Christian in all the variances of absurdity they are portrayed as – but just to listen. My heart ached for the burden of choice this young girl carried. It would sound condescending to say the woman didn’t understand her choice; presumptuous to say abortion will affect her deeply, and Pollyanna to say that if she has her baby it will be full of giddy laughter and flying unicorns, when I know how gut-wrenchingly hard motherhood can be. Everything that can be said can be construed as flippant, dismissive, over-simplified, insensitive, or unrealistic. All the best words can come out wrong.
It’s at such times that I wish we could speak with our hearts instead of our words. I wish the miraculous biology which didn’t just give us the ability to make life but to love so profoundly that it’s what defines our lives would trump all the seemingly logical and practical reasons for terminating life. At one time we were all like those gap-toothed six-year-olds. We never knew choices could be so hard – that life could be so complicated, and that love was more dimensional than the flat hearts we colored red.
Too often, women and unborn babies are hurt by 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦. Instinctively, intuitively, — like the spontaneity of a first grader’s hug- our hearts know what to do. 𝘓𝘰𝘷𝘦.
(𝘈𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘳’𝘴 𝘢𝘥𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘶𝘮: 𝘐 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘐 𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥𝘶𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘢𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘵. 𝘔𝘪𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘭𝘺, 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘶𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘐 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘵𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘣𝘺 𝘎𝘰𝘥’𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘎𝘰𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘳, 𝘐 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦𝘦𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘥𝘰𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘺. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘥𝘰𝘱𝘵. 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘶𝘴 — 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘣𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘣𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦.)
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Pro-life: Pro-love | Mercy Me! I've Got Work to Do
I was subbing for a first-grade class when I received a text message from an unknown number. It was from a family friend’s college-aged daughter seeking help for her friend considering an abortion. ... Prayers for safe travels to the Bishop Kenny High School students who traveled to D.C. today to participate in the march for life. Of all the lessons for our young people to learn and share with others, I can’t think of one more important than the sanctity and dignity of human life. #hope #proudmama
Susan Kulik Heekin robertdeluca_ ... See MoreSee Less
