Seeing Their Faces

It was horrible enough hearing about the tragedy in Connecticut....knowing so many young ones were killed, but something about seeing their little faces made it even worse.  I made myself watch it long enough to see their faces and hear some of their stories, but then I turned it off.  Seeing their faces made it even more real.  Hearing their stories was both heartbreaking and heartwarming.  I could imagine that I would want to tell my child's story if in that same situation - anything to help remember my loved one and share them with the world.  I didn't want to see their faces, but knew I should.  I needed to because I felt like I owed it to them and their families - to help remember and not forget.

Think about "seeing their faces", my husband mentioned abortion and how perhaps if the babies' faces were seen people would realize that it really is murder.  I think he's exactly right.

It's not just a blob of matter without a soul.  It is a baby.  A human. A life.  A little precious child from God who has no choice whether to live or die.  That decision is in the hands of the doctor and up to the decision of  the parents or grandparents - mostly the mother.

I'm thankful for young mothers I know who may or may not have their child's father in their life, and may be mostly or solely raising their child on their own, but who chose life for their baby.  They chose life when, in some ways,  it could have seemed easier to abort.

I am also thankful for those who unselfishly have given their child life, but loved the child enough to realize they weren't capable of parenting for whatever reason and decided to give their child to a loving home to be raised.  Several friends have adopted children and what a special thing to do - to give a life to someone wanting a baby to nurture and love.  That seems like an ultimate sacrifice of unselfishness and love.  Yes, it would be hard, but choosing life is still the best choice.  It's the right choice according to God's Word.  Life would always be the choice in God's Word.  Destroying life is murder.  There's just no way around that fact.

Would it make a difference if a mother or dad saw the face of their unborn child before making the choice to abort?  Would a grandparent be less likely to encourage or demand abortion if they saw their grandchild's face.   I'm pretty sure it would make a huge difference, but I am fairly confident that isn't going to happy.  It would be too hard.  Too difficult to see.  It would be protested.  To know that God knitted together that precious life would certainly pull at the heartstrings of a parent - even a parent who doesn't seem to have any feelings for the life within.

Seeing their faces would make it real, but just maybe that's exactly what it would take to stop abortion.

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 the 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