Tuesday, November 6, 2012

The hardest part.....

     As I sit here and reflect on what this past years political modge podge has been, one thing stands above the rest in my mind. What was it? A question I had to answer for my 10yr old.

     We have tried to make the best of the mud slinging and look for opportunities to learn. Not just about the candidates, but about people in general. It gives us a chance to step back and ask ourselves what we stand for.

      In our home we have a TV but no TV channels. We use netflix and an Xbox. So, we were saved from most of the political commercials. However, there were plenty of other ways we have been bombed with political mud slinging. Among all this mud slinging two phrases kept creeping up; "pro-life" and "pro-choice".
As most of you know, Rachel is a fairly serious minded girl and not a lot slips past her. She took note of these reoccurring phrases and inquired about their meaning. Who wants to look at their child and explain to them what abortion is? Who wants to look at their child and tell them that in the womb people can legally take their life? I don't. I know how sensitive my daughter is to these things and so I tried to put it in as simple terms as possible. I told her that "pro life" means people who are against abortion and "pro choice" means that you are for abortion. Then I had to explain what abortion was. My mind raced for a moment, and my mouth felt dry. Finally, I told her that abortion is when women decide that they don't want their baby for one reason or another and so they have them (at this word I hesitated but could find no other) killed while they are still inside the mom.

     She stared at me. Her lip quivered. She then said the most frightening thing. She welled up and asked, "You mean you could have killed me if you wanted to?" I grabbed her and held her tight. I told her that the thought NEVER EVER EVER crossed my mind and I would gladly give my life so that she could live. Her heart could not grasp this horror. She demanded to know why people could think of doing this horrible thing. I told her the truth.....I didn't know. She asked why people didn't just put the kids up for adoption instead....again I answered that I didn't know.

      We talked about it for sometime. We prayed about it. We prayed for the people who have had abortions, the people thinking about it, the people choosing not to, and the people that make it legal. She had a sense of determination to do something about this.

      After we were done my daughter walked away and I sat in silence. Another piece of her innocence was gone.  What if I had wanted to abort her? I was very young when I had her. What about my son? I went into it knowing my pregnancy would be difficult. What if? The thought weighed on my heart so heavily. To think of the blessings I would have missed out on. The empty spot in my life that would be so hard to fill is overwhelming. I cried. I prayed. I hugged my kids and kissed them.

       I pray for those who are suffering emotional pain after an abortion. We all sin and God can heal your pain.

       As I reflect on this election.......this was the hardest part.

   

1 comment:

  1. Wow! What a great post, Sarah. Thanks for being willing to be so vulnerable in sharing this. I can't imagine how hard that must have been.

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.