“Be gentle,” I said to my grandson. We were both mesmerized by the ladybug who rested on the park bench we were sitting on. While maples and oaks all around us were dressed in vibrant, autumn attire, we barely gave them a nod while we stared, transfixed at a tiny red beetle.
Little guy poked and prodded the bug. It didn’t respond. I figured it was either dead or pretending to be dead. Little guy wasn’t about to give up. So, he lifted it and placed it on his hand. I held my breath, wondering if he’d been gentle enough. “Make sure you’re kind. Ladybugs are good. They protect roses. They’re friends of roses and of those who love roses.”
I was referring to myself—of course. I adore roses and despise the aphids that ladybugs help keep in check. We both watched and waited as the ladybug remained motionless. And then she started to crawl. Slowly she made her way across my grandson’s tiny hand. Then she stopped, opened her wings, closed her wings, and then opened them again.
Relief flooded over me as I realized she was still alive and still in one piece despite the fact she was in the chubby hand of a not-so-careful child.
Little guy poked the ladybug again. “What is it doing?”
“Maybe she’s stretching her wings before going to go find a place to sleep for the winter. Sometimes I find ladybugs overwintering in my house.” I hoped she could still fly. She sure seemed drowsy or something. Why wasn’t she gone already?
We watched as she opened her wings again and flew across the bench and landed within little guy’s reach. He stretched his hand out to pick her up. “Why did she do that?” He said in his adorable-to-me voice.
“I think she’s looking for a place to sleep,” I pointed to a gap between the bench’s seat and backrest and said, “How about you place her in there.”
He took my advice and dropped the ladybug into the safe space. I sighed relief the situation ended well. Not all dangerous predicaments end with life. Too often life is terminated. Not that I’m referring to my grandson’s antics in nature as I shift this topic. As per usual, the poignancy of respecting creatures in creation reminded me how often I’m puzzled by the world’s hypocrisy. Many people have an overactive concern for tiny lives in nature unless those lives are inconvenient inhabitants of human wombs.
I thank God my unplanned grandson escaped the knife of the abortionist. I’m grateful his life wasn’t sacrificed to help line the pockets of the terminators.
I’m baffled by the lack of respect for the unborn. Unborn babies aren’t part of the mother’s body. Their being is as separate from her as an aphid is separate from a rose. While it’s acceptable to remove aphids from rose bushes, God doesn’t condone killing lives to maintain the status quo of an unborn parent’s life. I believe that unless the mother’s health is seriously threatened, the baby should be allowed to live.
We’ve become a world slow to use pesticides and fast to commit infanticide. Please don’t give me the bunk about a baby not being a baby until it exits the birth canal. I may not be a citizen of a country until I get my citizenship, but by the breath of God I am still a member of the human race—nonetheless. Some labels are lies used to condone the termination of lives. But whether you call a human a product of conception, an embryo, a fetus, a newborn, a baby, a toddler, a preschooler, a child, a teenager, an adult, or a geriatric—he or she is still a human being made in the image of God.
God help us for allowing our hearts to turn so callous we can’t be bothered to be bothered by the epidemic of abortions. Human beings by the millions are slain each year on this cold-hearted planet of self-seeking narcissists.
God help us because we’re going to be judged by The Judge for not speaking up for the defenseless.
Be gentle. Be gentle with the unborn. How we treat the least of these is how we treat God. How we treat God determines the final resting place for our souls. Justice is just around the bend.
Poet Alan Paton said:
“Let me not be afraid to defend the weak because of the anger of the strong, nor afraid to defend the poor because of the anger of the rich.”
Listen to what Proverbs 31:8-9 NIV says:
Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves,
for the rights of all who are destitute.
Speak up and judge fairly;
defend the rights of the poor and needy.
Please do me a favor, the next time you witness the flight of a ladybug, think of my grandson and all the other unplanned babies birthed or aborted and then ask God what He wants you to do about it. I know what He wants me to do—speak up for the defenseless.
And now I’d like to close with a poem:
May we be brave to speak
regarding what is wrong
and raise our voices for the weak
though it provokes the strong
~
May we be brave to tell
the truth of unborn lives
so that we will have done well
in our Father’s eyes.
~ wlm
I’m nosy-to-know if you’ve written or spoken on behalf of the unborn? You’re welcome to include a link to your post or podcast in the comments below. Please know and understand I would have chosen an abortion when I was a teenager because no one spoke up for the unborn in my life. It wasn’t until I joined a home Bible study group that I even heard the term #Prolife. Our words matter.
Be Gentle Blessings ~ Wendy Mac
I’ve written about this topic before. Here’s a link to a previous one: Let’s Wash Our Hands
And here’s a thought-provoking post by my writing friend, Damon J. Gray: Why I Do Not Believe Life Begins at Conception
Bring tissue for the following link because it’s a beautiful-to-my-mama-heart post. Shelli Littleton always writes with love and grace: Oh, Daughters–She Could Have Been Our First Woman President
Thank you dear Wendy, for not only being a voice, but being His hands and feet as you physically live out His word and heart.
Thank you, dear Deb. Blessings as you continue beautifully loving on the little ones who are precious in His sight. xo
Thank you for your boldness, Wendy. Here is my post on the same subject.
https://damonjgray.org/why-i-do-not-believe-life-begins-at-conception/
Thank you, Damon. I’ve included a link in my blog post to your powerful post. Amen to these words of yours: “I say none of this in anger, but rather with a broken heart & a grieving spirit over the sixty million lives lost in the United States alone. There is grace available to forgive, but the slaughter must end.”
Blessings to you & yours.
Our words matter. Wendy, thank you for writing and sharing your deep convictions. The gift of life is so precious. I appreciate you and your words.
Blessings, Misty
>
Thank you, dear Misty, for stopping by. I’m appreciating the freedom to share my thoughts and leaning into grace so I accept and love others who believe differently. Yes, “The gift of life is so precious.” <3
To answer your question – yes, I wrote a personal letter that I mailed and emailed to our governor at the beginning of the pandemic. We would see him every day on local TV, tearfully giving his daily pep-talk about how we all need to “protect the most vulnerable among us.” This is the same governor who vetoed a bill to stop infanticide. Sandwiched between two compliments on the concern he was showing for the (other) citizens of his state, I pointed out that such statements sound hollow when he failed to protect the most innocent and helpless of all. (Needless to say, I never heard back from him.)
P.S. You’re right, a baby is not “part of the mother’s body.” That mistake might have been excusable a century ago, but since the discovery of DNA, we know that every cell in that baby’s body is different from the mother’s. So, the baby is a unique individual, not PART OF the mother’s body, even though it is LOCATED IN her body.
Thank you for speaking up for the unborn. I wish there could even be a scaling back–a middle ground–where pro-choicers would agree to stop allowing abortions past a certain time. But no.
The world worships a new goddess now and gives her any and all the sacrifices she desires.
But we can pray. We can pray that eyes will see, people will know, and ears will hear the beating of unborn hearts.
Maybe all the efforts we’re putting out there for the older “vulnerable” people will prick the global conscious to pay attention to the forgotten ones too. Maybe.
Blessings. <3
Only God can open their eyes, so the best we can do is pray.
Amen.
I just happened to ( 😉 ) read the perfect example of that this morning in Luke 24:31 – These disciples had been walking and talking with Jesus and not realizing who He was! – until their eyes were opened.
Yes. That’s perfect. 🙂
I love you. You will always see me siding with life, as well, as my girls are adopted and yes, those years of infertility, and well … babies. Good grief. Too many people want a family, would give anything for that baby.
Here’s my post: https://shellilittleton.com/2016/07/19/oh-daughters-she-could-have-been-our-first-woman-president/
I love you too, dear Shelli. As you know, I’ve had to put feet to my pro-life belief. But my weekends and holidays are richer for it, even if my dining room and living room and garden look like a daycare.
Love. Life.
And I’m learning so much more than I would have if little guy hadn’t been aloud to breath outside the womb.
Thank you for your link, I will add it to the main post too later. <3
I’m just seeing this, sweet friend. My life feels so turned upside down … but I know God’s timing is perfect. Thank you so much.
xo Yes, God has perfect timing. This truth brings me peace.
We have three adopted children. My sister has 2 adopted children. All of those children were in danger of being statistics. They have since grown up and have a total of 10 children. To think that 15 people in my family would not be here if their parents had been given different advice.
In our country (USA) it is legal to abort babies up until birth and doctors may leave them to die if born alive.
Our current president has been very much an advocate for the unborn. We have started making progress in turning our barbaric policies around. Many are critical of his abrasive ways, but I have a tender spot for anyone who stands up for those that can’t stand up for themselves. Unfortunately minority babies have the highest abortion rate. Many abortion clinics are in poor neighborhoods or neighborhoods of color. In this case Black Lives don’t seem to matter to the activists.
What does saving lives mean to us as a people?
Are only certain lives worth saving?
Are only lives that can speak for themselves allowed the dignity of their personhood?
What about the voices of those who have gotten old? Perhaps their mind is no longer clear to speak for themselves? Are their lives worth saving?
Is my life worth saving? Is your life worth saving?
Thank you, dear Karen, for trusting me with your heart here. Sadly, Canada isn’t behaving any better regarding abortions. I was going to vote one way during our last election, and then that party mocked pro-life and I couldn’t vote for them.
I am pro-life. If we can’t look after the defenseless then we have failed as a society.
The more a nation uses a slippery slope, the more slippery it gets. I can’t believe the things I hear that are happening behind closed hospital doors. Mainstream media doesn’t share because it doesn’t care. Everyone wants to be popular but few want to protect the defenseless.
I can’t wait to meet Jesus. And I can’t wait to hug the unborn babies I miscarried. <3
I had an unplanned child under the not so best of circumstances. But God let me know he had plans for my child, who is now a Marine, and following my families footsteps.
I have been sitting on a flash fiction story idea regarding abortion, your post reminded me I need to get started on it.
Hope you are enjoying the new poetry book The Art and Craft of Poetry.
Thank you for sharing a bit about your story. I love happy beginnings instead of unhappy endings when it comes to this topic. Bless you for being brave.
I’ve got a book sample of The Art & Craft of Poetry on my Kindle. And a “billion” other books. Thanks for reminding me. Word of mouth is my favorite way to learn about books. 🙂
Thank you. 🕊️