Genesis

1 - I used to be one of those people who rallied for pro-choice. Back in our early 20's two of my friends had abortions for what they considered rational reasons and I don't think the whole matter was given much more thought. I wonder if the topic will ever come up again in our lifetime?

After listening to the testimony and thinking back to my own friends (different outcomes but the same thought process) I can't say that if I were in the position of being any number of women who face this choice every day, that the thought of aborting a child wouldn't run through my head.

I'd like to think I would be grounded in my faith and not make that choice but if I'm honest, the thought might pass through my mind. (Especially if faced with a pregnancy resulting from a situation that was anything but love created.)

That doesn't make me feel very beautiful.

I value life and proudly support the sanctity of life effort. I don't rally and I don't know why. Maybe it's because I still carry this not quite black/white idea in the back of my head.

It's an illogical, unbiblical murky-grey idea but it still popped into my head that I'm not really sure what to do with other than to ask God to forgive it and carry the hope that I won't ever have to be faced with that decision. I know it's totally breaking a commandment but it still there as a thought that I don't quite like but can't quite eliminate.

Maybe I can just blame it on society and our wish to have some "easy" button to just solve every tough problem. (I have to say that commercial campaign with the easy button was brilliant but sort of a sad statement of how culture really wants some easy answer.) However that is too easy in itself. Blame society. The same choice we think we have to end a life is the same choice we think we have to save one. Selfless vs. selfish. (Comment this)

2 - I'm currently watching a close relative choose to die. God may keep him here for years but my relative thinks he knows better. He's had several health problems and continues to struggle. He sits in his recliner and stares off into space in between naps and sleeping and really none of us know quite what to do but continue to love and wonder if anything will change before we are celebrating his life with a funeral.

In contrast I'm watching another relative who will probably die sooner rather than later celebrate life with abandon. Both are difficult for me to watch for different reasons but it seems so much easier to be around the person celebrating the moments (however small) that he still has on this Earth. (All of a sudden I'm humming the song Live like you were dying.)

How are we ever to think that we know everything that God has purposed for our life? We are gifted with the grand chance to bring lives into this world, to celebrate our own life through small moments. How great is that? There are tough choices and terrible storms.

Staying centered on Him, which is easier said than done and deeply rooted with a faith supported through knowledge of the Bible, it is probably easier to see that the purpose isn't really at all about us, but about Him. (Comment this)