For You From The Word
Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am in trouble; my soul and my body waste with grief!
(Psalm 31:9, NKJV)
For You To Think About
No one wants to be a “project” for someone else. But that’s exactly how Trina felt after her positive pregnancy test. A well-meaning agency worker gave her literature about a healthy diet, plunked a bottle of prenatal vitamins in her hand, and told her where she could go to get birth control so “it wouldn’t happen again.” Trina wept as she left the building. The worker helped Trina care for her body, but unintentionally missed soothing Trina’s broken soul.
Body and soul: the two can’t be separated.
Likewise, kingdom perspective towards the vulnerable women, children and families who face an unplanned pregnancy is not compartmentalized. Instead, Jesus teaches us to care for a person’s body and soul together. In one of his parables, the shepherd saves not merely the soul of the lost sheep but the whole creature (Luke 15:4-6).
“Reverence for life,” said Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965), German theologian, medical doctor, and missionary, “is applied to natural life and spiritual life alike.”
In other words, Jesus models how we can care for vulnerable women and their babies – not as a project, not just the body, nor just the soul – but as whole people, caring gently, thoroughly, and lovingly for both their bodies and souls.
For You to Pray
Gracious Father,
Women who face an unplanned pregnancy are not my project. Show me how to help them care for their bodies but also their hearts as they face them enormous challenge. Let them feel nurtured and loved totally and completely.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.