The events of the last two years have brought many challenges and hardships to the people in our country. It’s easy to be overwhelmed by the turmoil, hate, and violence that seems to fill the air like a dense fog. What I see around me is reminiscent of Saint Paul’s words in 2 Timothy, where he warns us of what we may see in the ‘last days’.
In the last days, people will be self-centered, lovers of money, irreligious, and disobedient (2 Timothy 1-3).
Until recently I’ve wondered if our country is not spiraling toward that end but perhaps there’s hope amid the chaos.
In a confused world where people seek pleasure in all things, the world offers except God. In an environment where children are ruthlessly slain in cold blood by the evil that is allowed to thrive in another human being. In an age when being politically sensitive is more important than the truth, I see a tiny flicker of light!
In a recent ruling, the highest court in the land acknowledged a Washington high school coach’s right to kneel and pray after football games. This comes after years of suppressing prayer and the ‘God’ word from our schools. I rejoice at the courage of our justices and pray that this is the first of many steps to legitimize the One who created us.
Of even more importance and subsequent controversy, the Supreme Court overturned the longstanding Roe vs Wade ruling reversing the court’s previous judgment to permit abortions in our country. This specific action has catapulted our country into even deeper dissension. It opens wounds already sensitive from the battle lines drawn between black and white, red states and blue states, and liberal vs conservative.
While I am definitively pro-life, I haven’t always borne that philosophy. This ruling is especially poignant for me considering I couldn’t have been more pro-choice at one point in my life. I believed women should have total autonomy over decisions made about their bodies. I knew little of Scripture then, and God was not part of my life. This gave me a distorted, and limited view of what was right and wrong.
Over 40 years ago, I impregnated a girl. I was just nineteen then. When she told me she was pregnant, I was indignant that she could have allowed this to happen. I wasn’t in love with this girl, and I doubt she loved me. We would get an abortion and my life would go forward as planned, I told her. There was little to discuss. It was as simple as that.
The girl ultimately found a place where the procedure could be done, and on a cold January day, I drove her to the address she gave me and watched her enter the doors of the facility. It never occurred to me that an hour later they would end the life of my child.
For decades, that moment was no more than a forgotten footnote in my life. It wasn’t until years later that the egregiousness of my act became clear, and I began to accept responsibility for what happened. I turned my back on my child, and on God that day. But like the Prodigal Son in Luke’s gospel, He forgave me. Seven years ago, the Lord led me to the Catholic church, where I was baptized and confirmed, culminating the end of a long, meandering journey.
I sometimes wonder what my son or daughter would have been like if the mother and I had allowed it to survive. Would they grow up to be creative and smart? Would they be athletic and disciplined? Could they have even achieved greatness in the world? I’ll have to live with the fact I never gave them the chance.
Abortion, and this recent Supreme Court decision, is a lightning rod for controversy and dissension in America, like a knife turned in an opened wound. Given my past, I clearly see the other side’s point of view. I was once one of them. But I am grateful now that my eyes have been opened.
I know we have not heard the last of this volatile issue. Where the law goes from this point forward, only God knows. If the ban on abortion remains, I rejoice that almost a million children will be spared in our country each year.
In Psalms 24:1, it’s written, ‘The earth is the Lord’s and all it holds, the world and those who dwell in it.’ We should be thankful for the actions of our Supreme Court judges who remembered those words and had the courage and integrity to act judiciously.
Yes. Perhaps there is hope for us.
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