By Jordyn Glaser
“The Life Letters” is an ongoing series aimed at encouraging and inspiring foster and adoptive parents and all pro-life readers. Oregon Right to Life, a non-sectarian, single-issue pro-life organization, welcomes guest contributions from pro-life advocates from many faith backgrounds who wish to share their stories and insights upholding the value of every human life.
(Oregon Right to Life) — Our youngest son Abel has a personality that closely resembles that of a cartoon character—think less Prince Charming and more the cast of Looney Toons. He lives his life in such a way that makes you wonder how he has survived as long as he has. One of his less-than-desirable habits is looking back over his shoulder as he runs full speed ahead. I’m not sure if you have actually ever tried this, but I don’t recommend it—it is absolutely terrifying! There isn’t a wall in our house that Abel has not run into.
One summer afternoon, our kids were all playing outside on the farm while my husband and I worked on building our new fence. By this point in the day, we had been digging holes and setting fence posts for several hours, so we opted for a quick water break. As I sat in my old wooden rocker on the front porch, I watched Abel dash across the field laughing. As usual, he was looking back over his shoulder at his siblings. The next few things seemed to happen in slow motion—my eyes tracked the route in which Abel was moving, I jumped to my feet, and just as I began to shout his name, Abel’s stride hit the center of one of the large holes we had just completed. Fun fact about Abel: he is built more like a fun-size candy than a full-size bar—a lot of personality in a very small package. Having this information, I hope for your own entertainment, you can now visualize in your mind the way his entire body instantly vanished into the hole, and in true cartoon fashion, his head popped up a second later like that of a large gopher.
The Dangers of Distraction
Abel did not see the avoidable trap directly in front of him because he was looking over his shoulder—in other words, he misplaced his focus. We can also easily fall victim to this mistake as pro-life advocates if we are not careful. When we become overly focused on politics, the arguments on social media, the protests on the news, and even the overwhelming need before us, we begin to lose sight of what we are running towards. This is not an issue of “being right” or which political party you align with–this is about the sanctity of life. We choose to advocate for the unborn, for children in foster care, and for adoption because we are advocating for human life. We are speaking out for children who are created in God’s image, and every single one of them matters.
It is important that we remember why we are running in the first place, because when we disorder our priorities and lose our focus, we are at risk of running straight into a trap just as Abel did. How we order our priorities reflects the posture of our hearts.
Because Life Matters
We may laugh at Abel’s lack of awareness, but unfortunately we can tend to run (figuratively) in much the same way. It is easy to become distracted, or maybe just comfortable, and completely miss the giant hole directly in front of us. Running aimlessly is easy. But running for the prize requires intentionality. So, as pro-life advocates, what does that look like for us?
Speak kind words of truth to our neighbors.
Offer respite for a local foster family.
Start asking questions about adoption.
And then stay the course–because life matters.
We won’t run a perfect race, nor are we expected to. But at the end of our lives, when we find ourselves standing before our holy God, I pray that in that moment we will be able to say that we overcame distraction to give our lives fully to the things that mattered most.
So set your gaze on the goal and keep running–it’s worth it!
