The Sanctity of Life

This year my birthday fell on Sanctity of Life Sunday.  The irony was not lost on me:  the day my birth is remembered, we remembered how important all life is and lamented the loss of millions whose lives were extinguished before the chance for a birth day.  The Pro-Life stance has been maligned and labeled as oppressive, but God’s Truth completely ordains the infinite value of all life and qualifies God as sovereign over the beginning and end of all life.

The issue of life, or of abortion, has hit unparalleled rending in America.  The elections of 2022 especially seemed to escalate the “right to life” divide, disregarding all other candidate credentials and capabilities.  Likewise, it precipitated an unprecedented lawless leak in the highest court of our land.  A sad moment for the integrity of the Supreme Court.

If I haven’t already lost you on this divisive topic, stay with me while I share something about the abortion argument that I only recently learned.  A common talking point for those favoring abortion rights is the case of the life of the mother.  To save a mother, the life of her baby should be taken, it is argued.  In very rare instances, pregnancy might threaten a mother’s life.  If a pregnant woman’s life is at risk, her doctor will attempt to save her life, not destroy the life of her baby.  In other words, the necessary procedure is not at all an abortion but is a premature delivery.  Her doctor will end the pregnancy by inducing labor or by performing a Caesarean section.  The baby, depending on its gestational stage, will be treated and saved, or if it is too early, will not be viable and will die of natural causes.  In both cases, parents of the baby can experience their baby’s birth or passing, demonstrating love for the precious little life.  This is not a talking point that I had ever heard expressed in any secular discussion of the life issue.

Upon hearing this, it dawned on me that I had been familiar with a couple in this scenario.  Their unborn baby was diagnosed with a serious prenatal condition.  Even with advanced technology and specialist doctors, the condition rapidly worsened putting the mother and baby in danger.  A C-section was performed but tragically, the baby was stillborn at birth.  The consolation in the loss was the parents’ time of bonding and grieving, holding their tiny infant in their arms.  The procedure did not result in a dismembered human body to be disposed of.  It is important for all to know that the right to save a mother by medical procedures to deliver her baby is not outlawed in this country.

Just this  week I again came across the familiar first five words of the Bible.  Genesis 1 v 1 goes, “In the beginning God created.”  Yes, He did.  He created life.  He determines the beginning and end of life.  We cannot understand all the hard things some people experience; I have no easy answers for the myriad of difficult life stories out there.  What I lean on is God’s sovereignty; He knows and I must leave it at that.  I value life because God gives life, all life.  And let us be warned that not valuing the life of a pre-born baby quickly spirals beyond:  beyond to questioning the value of the aging, the diseased, the cognitively impaired, even a race or group that another race or group deems unwanted or disposable.  In Jeremiah 17 v 9, God warns us of the endlessness of evil; so we “stand firm,” as God’s words through the Apostle Paul encourage us (2 Corinthians 15 v 58).

Here is the familiar opening verse of the Bible.

A Time for Calendars

Our son inherited his grandfather’s clock.

This past December, my husband and I were in an office supply store to buy a wall calendar.  We like something big with large squares to write in appointments and events, and it hangs in the kitchen where we can see it daily.  While checking out, a man (wearing a realtor nametag) commented to my husband that he hadn’t seen anyone use a paper calendar in years!  The remark felt disrespectful and condescending to me.  Of course, we are aware of digital calendars and on-line scheduling.  We use technology options too but a calendar’s day-to-day visual reminder serves us well.  Frankly, thanks to his comment, I won’t be calling the guy in the store for my real estate needs, but I suppose he’s right that wall calendars belong to the parent generation, the brunt of a series of recent insurance commercials.

I will be honest:  I like calendars.  Back in my classroom days, I kept several calendars up.  The photos or art for each month aided conversation and content in my ESOL classroom.  They added cheer and color to institutional walls and I find them cheerful now inside of closets, on the back of a door, and in a workspace.  Some calendars remind me of a ministry with needs; others take me to a beautiful scene or share an artist’s work each month.  My all-time favorite FREE calendar was the gorgeous photography and gardening news in the Merrifield Garden Center annual calendar but sadly I am not in Fairfax anymore to pick one up.

Calendars measure time, something precious and finite in the human experience.  Belonging to the Author of Life, I thoughtfully consider time.  I want to enjoy it, I don’t want to waste it and I know I am held accountable for it.  I realize my earthly time will end one day.  Already, I have attended two funerals in the new year.  One life remembered was long, full and clearly dedicated to the Lord.  The other memorial service also honored someone with a faithful legacy of serving the Savior, but the years were much short of the “span of seventy, maybe eighty years” described in Psalm 90 v 10.

We have quickly flipped over the first calendar page to February, torn off January, or digitally have swished or scrolled forward.  We might still be in the mode of planning, goal setting, prioritizing or establishing better habits for the new year.  That’s where I am too but I hope you are also considering how you will make your relationship to God a priority this year.  How will you spend time with our very Author of Life, learn of Him in the Scriptures, and be encouraged by others who share faith in Jesus?  David the Psalmist wrote that he “set the Lord always before” him (Psalm 16 v 8).  The entirety of Psalm 16 describes the safety, value, goodness, joy, and LIFE in choosing Him as our priority.  Blessings as you pursue Him fully in this unfolding new year.

Sweet generations remind us of the passage of time.