Jac texted me at 7:58 this morning.

“Wanna shower while things are quiet?”

That’s how we do love up in here- texts sent from 12 feet away.

By the time towel was in hand, there were 3 different Daniel ladies screaming and I considered joining them.  There was just so much to do and I didn’t want to handle it.

But I did because that’s what virtue is – doing the right thing even when it’s hard.  I could have been more joyful and thankfully there is always tomorrow.  Always . . .

I made Jac breakfast while we snapped at each other.  Oh, how quickly charity slips away!  The stress multiplied like the winding of a spring, turning and turning with each misunderstood word and little girl yell.  The dishes piled in the sink and it wasn’t yet 9 o’clock.  The kids chased each other and asked too many times for too many things while Monday careened through it all barking and jumping, simultaneously adding to and attempting to contain the chaos. I willed myself to take it in.

LIFE.  I am PRO-LIFE.

And not just this one- this beautiful, messy, crazy-blessed life- but ALL life.  Because EVERY life matters.

Every.

Single.

One.

We’ve got to-do lists miles long and we will be away from the kids all weekend and next week is just as busy.  A dear family lost their patriarch today and the car is acting up again and FOR-THE-LOVE-OF-PETE-WHY-CAN’T-THE-YOUNG-ADULTS-GET-THEIR-POOP-IN-A-GROUP?!?! All those things feel heavy but that’s not why we slogged through today. No, the weight on our hearts and souls was the weight of 57,557,364 abortions since Roe vs. Wade passed this day in 1973.

Every life matters.

We forget.  We grow complacent.  We turn in and tune out and ignore the weight.

I know there’s no easy answer to a culture that says women are strong and no different than men but glorifies our bits and pieces.  I shake my fists at a world that sends all sorts of mixed messages to men AND women and then puts us in a box, shakes us up and expects us to turn out all right. If the world were at my table, I’d say it’s crap (though maybe not so nicely) and to knock it off.  Quit hiding behind things and get to the heart of the matter. Alas. . .

Instead, I hold the weight of those lost lives.  I share it with the kids and ask them to heft it.  We talk about pain and sin and hurt and heartbreak.  We pray for mamas in tough spots and pray, pray, pray for people – ALL people – to be virtuous and make good decisions even when it’s hard. And I remind them that every life matters.

Every single one.

*500,000 people marched for life in Washington today.  We knew some but cheered for them all.  Every life matters, people.  Every single one.*