Owen Strachan:
Get ready for your jaw to drop. This video, on a father’s repentant love for his daughter Paisley, who lives with Down Syndrome, is poleaxing (HT: Eric Metaxas).I said this a few months back: the babies we don’t want today are the ones we most need. In a fast-moving, high-achieving age, we don’t want to be slowed down today. In a narcissistic, appearance-obsessed period, we don’t want to be associated with those who look different. In a perfection-driven time, we don’t want anything less than designer babies. So it is that we find ourselves in an age killing the fruit of the womb, including–by many accounts–some of the sweetest-natured children out there.I’m deeply thankful that ESPN ran this story. That in itself is a sign not that the culture is shifting on abortion, but that it has shifted. You may have seen the brand-new polling numbers on this. If you’re finding yourself in a place of deep cultural discouragement right now (which I fully understand), videos like this on a major outlet should encourage you. I don’t see happy days ahead for Western civilization–a big statement, this–but I do know one thing: the Lord has not stopped reigning, and that means that his grace, common and special, continues to rain on this earth.I, for one, am not ready to don the sackcloth just yet. I don’t mean that I’m unaware of discouraging cultural developments. I do mean that God’s lyrical kindness often surprises us, often breaks the door down in the darkest hour. You can’t read about a figure like Wilberforce, for example, and not come away with this conclusion.So: let’s keep praying, working, and trusting an awesome God to work awesomely, remembering the sweetness of little Paisley White as we do. Images like the screen-shot I took from the ESPN documentary, after all, are supposed to stir us, move us, and change us. That one left me undone.
I hope it does the same for the culture.
3 comments:
This story reflects the time when we had a perfect baby boy and at the age of 17 months, he came down with spinal meningitis and lost his hearing. It was devastating to us and more so because I was pregnant with our second child. We had to come to grips that he would never communicate like other children although we chose to go the oral route. It was tough but he graduated from high school and went on to graduate from college with a degree in art majoring in photography. During this time we also had the pleasure and joy of raising a child who was in the gifted and talented programs. Two children; completely opposite yet loved for who they were. At first, when our girl was born, I didn't want her. I was totally overwhelmed but by the time she was 18 months old, she was speaking in complete sentences, knew her letters, colors and numbers. She started learning simple songs on the piano because she listened to me teach other children piano and she wanted to learn. My son couldn't sing but he could hear enough with his hearing aides to learn to whistle. Nathan is now 37 and unmarried. He said his duty was to care for me while his dad worked during the day. You see, during all the time we were raising our children, I was battling PTSD from childhood trauma, beginnings of Parkinsons and Fibromyalgia. Nathan cares for me during the day and has a part time job in the evenngs. He loves to write stories ;easpecially science fiction. My daughter, Cissa, is married, has three children, is in the process of adopting a child from Croatia and does volunteer work through their church. She home schools and uses many of the techniques I used. I learned just by doing, she has had many resources through books and computers which I didn't have when my children were growing up. It was difficult to accept the fact that Nathan wasn't perfect anymore. That he was deaf and couldn't hear everything we told him but we learned patience, tolerance for those who were different and most of all that the human heart is capable of unconditional love. Thanks for this story of Paisley and for the opportunity to tell my story. I love my husband, Lloyd, so much for his undaunting love and patience and the perfect children who gave me such love and joy in a crazy world. Gentle Hugs, Bobbi
Thanks for sharing this!
"That in itself is a sign not that the culture is shifting on abortion, but that it has shifted."
This is complete wishful thinking. Anyone can say they're against abortion. I could bring out some of the most rabid pro-abortion people (who even perform abortions themselves), and they will tell you how they're against abortion. They just think that a woman shouldn't be forced to gestate if she doesn't want to.
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