Choose Life

Choice. It’s a hot topic right now isn’t it? Between our debates about a woman’s right to choose what happens to her body, to the heartbreaking increase in teen suicide and the “choose life” movement, to an 18 year-olds’ right to choose which automatic weapon to legally buy.

I am stuck between despair, and hope in this moment. I go to sleep each night grateful that life in my little bubble played out the way it did. And I wake up each morning to news that yet another tragedy has struck.

My favorite definition of “choice” is the right, power, or chance to choose; having options.

I certainly do not have any answers. But I do know this. I am grateful every day that when I was  faced with that gut-wrenching decision, I had the right to choose what was best for me, and for my family. More on that topic in another post. I just pray that this right is not stripped from women who (mostly) are in much more dire circumstances than I was.

I am grateful every day for resources like Choose Life and the people who are tirelessly trying to prevent teen suicide, and support those who are standing on that edge.

And I am not sure how to even approach the conversation about choice as it relates to 18 year olds having the choice to legally purchase automatic weapons. We are living in a time, aren’t we? The people trying to protect life of unborn babies, no questions asked, are the same people who are protecting the right of those who walk into a classroom and take out 19 kids. It makes no sense to me.

So here is the point to my little rant. All politics aside…

The word choose is a powerful word. In any moment, we have the incredible opportunity to choose. In this moment, I have the power (and the privilege) to choose THIS. This moment. This day. This life. Exactly as it is, and as it isn’t.

My friends, choose life. Your life. As it is. We need you here, with us. When you choose the life you have right in front of you, only then do you have the power to change it.