Life

I saw them at the end of the aisle.
A little boy was in the seat of a shopping cart; his back was facing me.
His mother was looking for something on a shelf.
It was not until she turned around that I could see that she was pregnant.

There is something so beautiful about a pregnant woman.
There is a mother’s glow that is undeniable.
She was carrying her baby so well.
A round ball of a belly was in front of her.

It was that belly that kept her son occupied.
He rubbed her belly.
He patted her belly.
He talked to her belly.

Are you talking to the baby? She asked him.
He leaned over as far as he could reach and kissed her belly.
Oh, you love the baby, she said tenderly.
That called for more kisses and belly rubbing.

It was the sweetest thing to witness.
The little boy was obviously going to be a big brother very soon.
He seemed to take his role seriously.
He already loved the little baby he had not yet seen.

I had to pass them and the mother caught me smiling.
That was the sweetest thing to see, I said to her.
Oh, he loves this baby, she said as she held her belly lovingly.
I remember those days, I told her; Enjoy every precious moment.

How many children do you have? She asked me.
I have five children but they are all grown now, I answered.
The time really does go by much too fast, I added.
She looked at me but her eyes told me that she did not believe me.

I looked at the little boy who was still patting her belly protectively.
You love the baby, don’t you? I remarked.
Rather than answer in words, he answered in action.
He kissed and patted and hugged his mother’s large belly, which made us both laugh.

He made my day, I told her, looking at her son.
That was the sweetest thing to witness, I said turning my shopping cart down another aisle.
I heard the soon-to-be big brother from the other side of the shelves.
Baby, Baby, Baby, Baby, he repeated over and over.

I kept thinking about how very real that precious baby was to him.
The baby was alive and kicking.
The baby was already loved by this soon-to-be big brother.
The baby was already loved by this mother, who looked as if she would deliver any moment.

Being on the other side does not make this unborn baby any less a baby.
Location has nothing to do with it.
I thought about unborn babies as I continued to choose my groceries.
I thought about life and how very precious it is.

I do not know my natural mother except that she was only a teenager when she had me.
She was a young, frightened girl who had the courage to deliver me.
Then she had even greater courage to give me away.
She had courage to put me up for adoption so I would have a better life than she could give me.

I am sure her pregnancy was quite different from the young mother I saw today.
There was probably the stigma and the judgment for getting herself into this situation.
However, I am not a situation.
I am a living, breathing person who was given life when death would have been so much easier.

Imagine a young teenager all alone.
We don’t have to imagine too much since we see young, pregnant girls all around us.
I am pro-life.
However, I ask myself, What does that mean?

Is it simply carrying a baby to term and delivering the baby?
It is that, of course.
But it is so much more.
It is the well-being of both the baby and the mother.

Those young mothers need our help and our support.
In order to carry their baby to term, they need people to talk to and to walk alongside them.
They may need parenting classes and help finding a job, especially if they are alone.
They may need a family to live with, if their own family has no time or room for them.

Being pro-life is taking care of the mother and the precious baby.
It is counseling a mother about the courageous decision of putting her baby up for adoption.
It is loving her without judgment.
It is meeting her practical needs.

Crisis pregnancy centers do that job beautifully.
Crisis pregnancy centers need our financial and practical help.
Donations of diapers, wipes, formula, and baby clothes are always needed.
Financial donations are crucial since the money is put directly where it needs to go.

Not all pregnancies look like the one I witnessed today.
However, there are people ready and willing to be a source of support for young mothers.
Culture talks about options and convenience.
Culture acts as if the choice of life is ours when the choice of life is God’s.

For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in that secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be. (Psalm 139:13-16)

We were created, knitted, woven, and formed in our mother’s womb.
We are fearfully and wonderfully made.
God’s eyes are on us at all times, from conception to natural death.
The hidden place that man wants to control with choices, is a place over which God is sovereign.

There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, “Mine!” (Abraham Kuyper)

Mine!
Everything belongs to God.
The little boy had it right.
His baby was already loved yet was still unseen.

An unborn baby is not seen by human eyes.
However, the unborn baby is always seen by God’s eyes.
Not a nanosecond goes by when that unborn baby is not lovingly watched over by God.
The little boy seemed to intuitively know that life is precious.

We bring our adult selves to the table.
We analyze and justify our options.
However, we are wrong; we are not the ones to decide.
The decision always belongs to God alone.

I am living proof that life matters; we all are.
The circumstances of my birth may have been different than yours but the outcome was life.
Life: something to cherish and something to protect.
God says so.

2 responses to “Life”

1. Beautiful. And you are living proof of a decision to choose life. You have added such joy and encouragement and example of living the Christian life to those around you; what a loss it would have been if your birth mother had made a different decision. I’m so glad she chose life!

   Reply

   • Sue,
     Your words have touched my heart. Thank you.
     Yes, my birth mother will never know how far her decision for life has reached. Five children, who hope to have families of their own one day, as God allows, would not be here if not for her decision to choose life for me. God is good.
     Gina

     Reply