To Pre-born Babies in America,

 

img source: https://christianresearchnetwork.org/2015/09/14/evidence-mounts-for-viability-of-babies-not-considered-legally-human/

I have great news for you. When you come out of your mommy’s belly, the world will revolve around you. Everyone from all walks of life, from every profession will make sure you are safe and sound. At the hospital where you are born, most nurses won’t allow you to co-sleep with your mom because the American Academy of Pediatrics believes that co-sleeping is one of the leading causes of infant deaths. Doctors, nurses and lactation consultants will freak out if you are not latching properly or if you are losing too much weight. Your pediatrician might also scare the heck out of your parents by calling them to come back to the hospital immediately because your bilirubin test result came back abnormally high. The hospital will also make sure you go home in an unexpired car seat facing backward and from then on, all of society will make sure that you are not left alone inside a car, regardless of any circumstances. Grandmas will break car windows for you. The neighbors might call the cops if they find out your mom spanks you at times. When you’re a bit older and in school, all the cars in front and behind your school bus will stop until you are able to safely get off.

 However, I have some bad news for you little one. These same people might not fight for your life while you are still inside Mommy and you will get to enjoy all the benefits I have mentioned if and only if your mother decides to keep you. Yes, if she wants you alive. If she doesn’t want you, you will be called a “fetus” or a “clump of cells”. Otherwise, you will be called a “baby”. If she wants you, she will have a baby shower thrown for her where everyone will celebrate your life and be excited about you. They will talk about what name to give you; spend a lot of time, money and effort designing your nursery; google the best pediatrician in town and decide whether to vaccinate you or not. Your parents might even have a maternity shoot or go to birthing classes, read tons of books about parenting and baby-proof the whole house and even the yard just for you. It’s a million-dollar industry.

 But like I said, you are at the mercy of your mom’s choice. I am sorry that the value of your life depends on whether your mom or dad is ready to have you, or whether they want to give you a chance to live even if the doctors said you wouldn’t make it or whether they want to let you live anyway despite knowing you are going to be different from most people. I am sorry that many “endangered animals” like pandas and polar bears are more protected than you.

            So I have some advice for you little one: Make it through the birth canal – because in America, your successful passage through it will endow your “humanity”. You will be called a “person” if you make it. People will stop calling you mere "clump of cells". Do not be even a day late because in some states like Colorado and New York, your mom’s doctor can take away your life even a day before you begin your journey out into the world. Even if your mom did not plan you, your life and even hers might still turn out amazing. YOU could still turn out amazing. You have so much potential simply because you are human – right from the very start, even while you are still small.

 

Love,

Jill

Are You Really There?

 

img source: https://figtreefreedom.blogspot.com/2012/12/ultrasound-photos.html

I am about 9 weeks pregnant today and aside from the ultrasound photo I took home with me a couple of weeks ago, nothing visual seems to prove that I am really with child. To be honest with you, even though I prayed so hard for this baby, his or her existence in my body does not seem real. He or she does not feel alive. I am looking forward to my next doctor visit when I could finally hear his or her heartbeat for the first time and not just see it beating on the ultrasound monitor. Perhaps by then, I will completely believe that there really is a life trying to grow inside me and I am not just pretending to be tired and hungry all the time. This made me realize why it’s easy to call a human being this small with a different name – because they are so tiny, so dependent, so underdeveloped and so quiet. 

Abundant Life

 

img source: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/557601997596628449/

          I don’t think it needs to be said that the world is full of brokenness, that at some point in our coming of age, we had realized that life is imperfect. However, if you are of the Christian faith, it is possible to live the fullest of life on this side of heaven. It was not lip service when Jesus said in John 10:10 that he came that we might have life and have it to the full or in John 7:38 when he said that whoever believes in him, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them. God also made numerous attempts to describe what life should be like for those who believe in Him through various metaphors and imagery such as an olive tree flourishing in a dry, wasteland (Psalm 52:8) or a tree planted along a riverbank (Psalm 1:3). Of course God, with his initiating nature and sovereignty would always reach out to us but I am convinced that He also does not force – therefore, our experience of God and of life with respect to Him largely depends on the extent to which we allow Him to get involved in our lives. To provide a clear imagery, it is like inviting a guest over for dinner. If our interaction with him ends at the end of the dinner then his impact and influence will also end right there but if we invite him frequently and maybe allow him to stay after dinner to talk some more or to fix a few things at our house, then his influence will be greater and our relationship with Him deeper and better. Now think about this guest being the creator of the universe (Genesis 1), the beginning and the end (Revelation 22:13), the one who created us and knows us from the inside out (Psalm 139), the one who knew us even before we were born (Jeremiah 1:5), the one who has great plans for us (Jeremiah 29:11) and the one who wants to spend eternity with us (John 3:16). I heard it once said that the first sin the human race committed was disbelief in the sufficiency of God, the suspicion that he might be harboring something better for us, other than what He has already provided – and I think this is one of the reasons why sometimes or most of the time, it is hard for us to completely surrender to this kind of God despite His many good promises, even despite of all the great things He has already done in our lives. This suspicion is the reason why most of the time, we want to let Him in – everything is formal and nice, food is great, dinnerware is perfect but we don’t want anything beyond the pleasantries. We don’t want Him to see the dirty clothes in the laundry room; the rotten, disorganized filth in the basement or the closets full of random, hodgepodge of junk that we have chosen to fill our lives, instead. We want just a little bit of God, but not all of Him. For some reason, we are just comfortable where we are – even if despite all the materialism, we are empty, or regardless of the big crowds and the cacophonies of laughter everywhere, we are lonely, hopeless people- that we have to rely on external things to fill us with joy. We are eating crumbs the dogs have left behind instead of sitting at the banquet table.

          But the truth is God is dying to fill our lamps with unlimited oil, to give us peace and joy that go beyond understanding. God is dying to heal our broken hearts, to help us sort through our challenges, to help us understand who we are and why we are here. Sure, there are random things in the world that can make us happy: Christmas (and everything that comes with it), summer fun, family vacations, chocolate, coffee, a gorgeous sunny day -  but those are just glimpses and hints of His glory. They are not meant to fill the God-shaped hole that He alone could fill. God wants to reveal Himself to you. If you will only let Him in – you could even skip the dinner part.