Reimagining Pro-Life: 30 Days With Save the Storksنموونە

HEART //

When the psalmist reflects on the marvelous intricacies with which God created humans, he doesn’t bow at the feet of the next passerby or even praise the massive and incredibly crafted universe. No! The psalmist immediately praises God. As Christians, we do not worship created things. Christians worship Christ, in whom all Creation has being and breath (Colossians 1:16–17). Christ is the only ‘human’ worthy of worship because He is “the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being” (Hebrews 1:13). 

In human life, we glimpse the image of God: “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27). In the garden, God chose to create one single thing in resemblance to Himself. Humanity is that one thing. You, reader, are that one thing! The psalmist writes that God has “knit” us together in a fashion so remarkable that, if we really stopped to think about it, we would stand with mouths open, hands raised, in absolute reverence of His awe-someness. Plus, we would see others as beings made in the image of God. We would use our gaping mouths to encourage and bless, our upraised hands to help and uphold God’s most beloved creations! 

We don’t really stop to think about the way that God has made us, though. At least, not enough. We know this to be true because of the way that we treat each other. Pause, just to think for a moment about the ways that you may have treated the people that you have come into contact with today. Have you gossiped about someone? Have you cut another off while driving down the highway? Have you ignored a request that your family member made or ignored a need as you walked down the street in a hurry? Jesus teaches us (Matthew 5:22) that the heart is what truly matters and we sin against God when we sin against the people that He has created in His own image. When we practice seeing all people as God sees them, we are kinder and more gentle in all our interactions. 

// WORK

One tangible way that Save the Storks celebrates and protects human life is by providing abortion-vulnerable women with access to free ultrasounds. Stork Buses are driven to strategic places within communities to be able to serve women where they're at: outside of abortion clinics, on college campuses, and in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods. Every day, these services are being used to help them to make informed, life-affirming decisions. There is something about seeing an ultrasound image and hearing your baby’s heartbeat that cannot be shaken. It’s a witness to the miracle of human life. 

In your journal, reflect on this question: Do the images that you put in front of your eyes and the things you hear every day have an effect on you? Here’s another way to put it: Does your favorite social media, TV show, or video game help you to see every human being as an amazing creation of God? Often, media has the opposite effect. It makes us culture-centered, rather than Christ-centered. 

Media affords us the opportunity to compare CONSTANTLY, and, in doing so, it may sometimes encourage us to put others categorically above or beneath us — rather than seeing them simply as diverse, beautiful people that reflect God in incredible and unique ways. It is believed that President Theodore Roosevelt once wisely pointed out, “Comparison is the thief of joy.” That’s why we have to be careful with what we regularly put in front of our eyes and into our ears. 

There is one image that we know has a positive, life-changing effect, though: the ultrasound. Have you ever had the opportunity to see one in person? It is truly humbling and a breathtaking reminder of how we are fearfully and wonderfully made! 

Ask yourself and then journal about this: What would it look like if I decreased my media usage for the long-term? Could that help me to see more consistently that I am made in His image vs. what culture dictates? How could the gifts God has given me, the way I reflect His image, be used for the Kingdom? (Perhaps I could support the work of a Pregnancy Resource Center that is helping to educate pregnant moms about the life being knit together in their womb?)