'Just a Mom's' View

You want to see me struggle with reigning in my passionate, opinionated self? Get me talking about abortion or Planned Parenthood. Talk about getting my blood boiling! Last month, my family and my church joined hundreds of other Christians in downtown Houston as we all peacefully protested outside of a Planned Parenthood facility. My particular group of friends was right next to the entrance where PPH volunteers were stationed to help “control” the crowds and make sure no one tried to enter the premises. I had such an inner struggle going on. When I’m mad at someone, my sarcastic side can really come out. But being a jerk to them wouldn’t make them come to “see the light”, and I knew it. I also felt a compassion for them because they most likely are not Christians and they need our Savior. This conflicting feeling inside combined with the intense Houston heat made for an interesting few hours. My husband and I had brought along our five kids ages 6 and under. Two of which were 6 month old twins at the time. I figured, what better way to protest the killing of babies than to have my cute, innocent kids representing an allowance of life?

As we stood around praying and talking and holding up our signs, something happened that I will never forget. A few of the kids in our group, mine included, had stepped off of the sidewalk, to a small patch of grass. Immediately the grouchy PPH lady bellowed out, “Get off the grass!” Several of us looked up in shock. Her words had been loud and rude and had caught many of us off guard. This happened a few more times where a little toddler from our group would put part of their foot off of the sidewalk and on the grass and she would bellow the same words out. “Get off the grass!” All that came to my mind was that these people have their priorities all wrong. They don’t get paid to work for PPH. They are VOLUNTEERS. That means they AGREE with what PPH stands for. We had a super peaceful protest, someone from “our side” had even purchased all of the PPH workers coffee drinks, only to be rudely turned down, and now even the smallest of our kids were being yelled at because their feet had touched their precious grass. A thought dawned on me. They were more concerned with saving their grass and saving themselves from lawsuits if someone fell on the grass or crossed their property line, than they were concerned about the actual BEATING HEARTS that were undoubtedly at that moment being snuffed out because they were deemed unworthy and inconvenient. “Save the Grass! Kill the Babies!” This is our society’s mantra isn’t it? Whales, lions, endangered animals, trees, plants…all of these things have taken precedence over HUMAN LIFE. It’s infuriating.

Ultimately, I have to remind myself of an extremely important truth. Our world is sinfully lost…and without the eye-opening illumination of Christ and His Word, they will continue to be so. They WILL NOT all be saved. They WILL NOT all change their minds. They WILL NOT all come to see the right side of things. I alone cannot change their minds and it’s not ultimately my job to do so. It’s okay for me to peacefully protest a corrupt organization and ask that my tax dollars not support them. It’s okay for me to feel anger towards those who are taking the lives of sweet babies. But more importantly than any of this is that my anger towards sin increases and that my passion for sharing Christ’s hope with the lost takes precedence over anything else. I need to decrease so that Christ may increase. It’s the reason I’ve been put on this planet. It’s the reason I have been given a heartbeat and allowed this precious thing called “life”.

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