the value of life

tonight i'm thinking about the value of life. my life, which i definitely take for granted ... your life, which i hope you know is precious to me (or to the people in your life if we've never met, but even then - you're here, i care about you. my heart is just that big, or so i like to hope) ... and the lives of every person there is ...

because even though i am not always fond of the masses, i really am fond of each and every one that make up the masses. while i yell in traffic and complain in crowds at the mall, i still know that every person has a purpose and their worth is intrinsic.

from conception to death we are viewed as a commodity in american culture. we see each other as cogs in a money making machine whether we realize it or not. wherever we work, we're replaceable. money has become so "holy" we'll do anything for it. society strongly discourages large families and children are often viewed as a financial burden, only to be had when the time is right. and time is money. right? wrong! wrong on so many levels - time is not money! certainly time is like money in that it can be lost or well-spent, but once it has been used it cannot be regained. time is way more precious than money, but a human life is more valuable than anything else. your life is infinitely more precious and valuable than american culture would indicate.

you are not here to make money, whether you work forever to eke out a meager existence or become incredibly wealthy. the Lord can certainly use money to further His purposes, but when money becomes our primary purpose we are in dangerous territory. your identity is in no way dependent upon how much money you do or do not have. you are worth more than your salary. you are worth more than all of the money in the world.

and what's amazing is that every single person on this earth, shares that same worth. the fact that everyone else has the same worth doesn't lower your worth - because God's "economy" is not our economy. i don't think God really even has an economy, He's SO ABOVE economy, hallelujah.

a few things sent my mind down this road tonight, but i guess death and its realness was the main instigator. ever since i could read the newspaper as a kid, i've been skimming the obituaries and sometimes a person will stick out. a complete stranger, and my heart hurts for their family. when the loved ones of friends die, my heart breaks - even if i've never met the person. suddenly when a person dies i feel this connection to them. maybe i sound a little hokey or full-on crazy. who knows, maybe someday i will be "crazy aunt chelsea" in a bright purple hat and a multicolored muumuu, but i'm serious ... when someone dies i can't help but be reminded that we're all in this together. no one escapes death.

a mom at our church, abby drennan, died suddenly two weeks ago and even though i've never talked to her, i started tearing up when her husband and three little girls came into church without her. (i could've bawled, i don't know why i stop myself?) her husband rob is a rock and his words to the whole church encouraged me greatly. from everything i've heard about abby she was an amazing person. she was 25.

25 is the same age as the woman my mom recently told me about, who also has three children and has had 17 abortions. 17? i cannot imagine. do you just stop feeling? it seems like not only did something go numb inside of her, but EVERYTHING must have went numb inside of her. my heart breaks for her because ultimately she has no idea WHO SHE IS. she doesn't know she was created for so much more than what she's living in, that she was created with a purpose and for good things. she does not know her worth. and because of that, she's snuffed out 17 innocent lives. most of us don't even have 17 people in our immediate family. imagine your whole family ... gone. or imagine your 17 closest friends ... gone.

that's the realness of abortion. lives are being taken every single day while we so often take our own for granted. it's easy to forget about abortion, but it's just as real and horrific as the awful tragedy of the clouse family who lost seven of their eight young children to a fire at their home in perry county. "Christina, 11, Isabelle, 9, Brady, 7, Hannah, 6, Heidi, 4, Miranda, 1, and Samantha, 9 months, are buried side by side(Patriot-News)." i've been thinking about that a lot this week too and once again, i cannot imagine the excruciating pain their parents must be in. so sad.

i appreciate what their pastor, Adam Williams said regarding the outpouring of money from the community. "People are searching for ways to take away their pain. But there’s nothing that can be done outside of the healing of the Lord. But, this is appreciated, what the community has done. And it will meet a need, but it won’t meet the need of replacing these children.”

true for their family, and true for all of the innocent lives taken by abortion.

life is precious, and my heart is heavy tonight for people who have lost those dear to them. for the drennan family at my church. for the clouse family in perry county. for so many others. i wish i could speak to every individual who has lost someone they loved and say: that person is not forgotten. and neither are you. you are loved and you are worth more than you know.