.
.
No, you don't need bombs or even guns. I am unnecessary and useless, save to offer thanks, prayer, and support. Unless they start trying to... mandate. You don't need other tools. You just need a simple, effective, humble tool that God showed you in many ways. Starting with your parents and then hopefully it matures in your own life. It can conquer not just hate, but doubt, worry, scorn, and all the other things that bring you low. Well... why just talk about it. How about I show you. How much these young parents, especially mom, had to go through... It's breathtaking, the world we live in today. But, aye, through it all... I got to see that glimpse of hope I needed for this Christmas Day.
Hard to look at? Really? Do you have any idea what a perfect Christ sees when He has to look at us in our sin? Aversion to this child is excessively mild by comparison. This child is actually innocent of personal sin. Easy on the eyes when compared to our lust, greed, and... hate. You just have to know how to see.
My brother and his wife had to go through something similar, though less obvious at the end. Part of why I never gave up on them. The miracle of life, sadly, in these days, is considered a choice in these times. A choice? Really? Not for the good.
I have my own part in this, albeit a smaller one. I had a nurse ask me if I would have preferred to have been aborted, since I have so many problems. Seriously, looked me in the eyes, was genuine. I turned the question on her. In various discussions, I think... she started to see... beyond her lesbian notions and hate from and of it. I have my ways, if they were given by God. Even a poor emulation is powerful in these times. Took long enough to become aware of them.
Merry Christmas.
I can't believe a nurse asked you that.
ReplyDeleteAs the video shows, people can be so heartless..
@Foam --- "I can't believe a nurse asked you that.
ReplyDeleteAs the video shows, people can be so heartless.."
Or stupid. Or both.
Last week I found myself listening to a radio show where the topic was couples consciously choosing not to have children. There were a lot of reasons stated but, in the end, it all condensed down to these people not wanting to sacrifice the magazine-cover lifestyle they desired.
I found myself considering two things. First: what if the parents of these people had made a similar decision?
Second: the one upside of all this is that such people don't reproduce.
foam,
ReplyDeleteYou would be absolutely amazed at what many in the "medical" field really think. Many of them think they offer health. They don't realize they simply are there to buy time for the ill to find health, or extend our lives. They have no cures, they have no control, they aren't powerful. Servants, and ones who should be on their knees, not in lofts. Many forget their oaths, or never took them seriously. Money, power. Some must hate those of us who seemingly refuse to die. More, some believe they should be put in charge of life and death. They believe they know better than God.
Michael,
Yep, met a academic couple like that a few years ago. Too old, now, to contemplate the notion. Their picture-perfect life crumbling into age, and... they are seeing the world turn under them, old, dying... alone. Not so pretty a life anymore, while they care for their aging parents. It... has to hit them. We discussed it, being that I don't even have a wife, mind you.
I have regrets, if some small hope. I, well, I had health and other issues, it wasn't as much choice as for some. Though, until I knew what was wrong, I did fear passing this on. Now that it I know it was viral, most likely... I am... looking.
@Doom --- I won't be so foolish as to claim that child-rearing is a chowl of berries. Far from it. But there is always the reward of a long job well done. Jeremiah and I have certainly have our disagreements . . . but not only has he grown into someone I can talk with, but he's become perhaps the only person who can always make me laugh no matter what.
ReplyDeleteSomething else about the couples in the radio program I listened to. A common argument was that raising children was "too difficult" and would interfere in the effort they wanted to devote to their professional careers.
And here I am thinking: "They want to prove themselves capable of being hard workers, and yet they run from a really difficult challenge."
Of course Life would be easier if we could choose our battles. Not better, you understand, but easier.
Yeah, all I am saying is that I saw two people who chose not to have children because children got in the way of doing, essentially... whatever. Well, and the expense. Plus, as academics, children and those who have them are eschewed, socially. All I know is, when they were discussing it, with me, and seeing and hearing my doubts (they brought it up, by the way), I saw and heard their own doubts. I could see them increasing through time, through various discussions.
ReplyDeleteOne of them was having to decide things for his parents. And I saw, when discussing that (different issue, different time), they understood... there was no one to help them when their time comes, and it's not that far off. They have saved a bundle. But I think they realize that no amount of money can take the place of blood.
It... actually frightened me. For them, for myself. I didn't kick, or punch, on that. Just asked, much like I do here (though, yeah, I can hit things pretty hard while speaking/writing while in thought).
Terrifying, really, to be alone. Something to consider. Something that nags my own mind. Not just they, them, but... me too.
No one can afford to raise a child. If everyone waited until they had enough money to raise a child we certainly wouldn't have a population problem.
ReplyDeleteThe trick (as I like to think of it) is that you don't have to have all the money available all at once. And some years are cheaper than others. To misquote Greg Brown: for the first few years a kid can pretty much get by on fresh air and noodles.
One good thing about things, in spite of what I might suggest, and not in a rich fashion, I really can afford kids. Lots of them. If a wife is on board, balls to the... well, maybe that isn't the best way to say it, but... you know how THAT goes. I wasn't even misquoting, more to do with context and feminine hysteria?
ReplyDelete