Win-Win

It's Super Bowl Sunday. And one thing I'm pretty sure of: no matter who you cheer for, there won't be two winners. It's the nature of competition that there must be a winner and a loser before the game is called.

Sometimes, we take that same tact with the question of life as we judge the worth of the Mom's life versus her baby's in a crisis pregnancy situation: one must win and the other must lose.

Society creates an artificial contest between the potential life of the mother and her child. According to modern culture, a woman can't possibly 'win' in life if she becomes pregnant at an inopportune time. What is in the artificial balance? Her potential career, her potential finances, her potential schooling, her potential relationships, etc. In short, her potential.

But what of her child's potential?

I know for me, all I could do was count the mounting losses if I'd remained pregnant. In the competition between me and my daughter, I won.

But I also was the loser.

See, the winner/loser model doesn't apply when it comes to God-given life. God desires that each of us have the opportunity to 'win.' When society views life in terms of winners and losers it should be believers that boldly stand up and say, "It's deeper than that and we don't have the authority to choose." Because in reality there isn't a competition between Mom and her child.

As I walked through this in my mind, I thought about Hagar and Ishmael in Genesis chapter 16. Current society might have convinced Hagar that because she was a slave with no rights, no prospects, and no assurances of a future that abortion might have been the perfect option. How much more vulnerable could you be than Hagar? But even at her lowest point, she heard and saw an angel of God and gathered herself together. She was so fortified with the promises of God given to her about her son, that she went BACK into slavery.

God promised that her son would be rambunctious, a fighter and not liked by men.

Can you imagine being told that your son would be a hot mess?! But, Hagar chose life! She chose slavery, she choose ridicule and she chose hardship on the promises that God would never take His eyes off of her and her son.

In the end, Ishmael was the Father of many whom God would later use. His purposes for His creation cannot be known at conception and we are hasty if we judge the life of one to be more precious than another. Even in hardship, God can make a way for both mother and child to prosper.

So, as we tally up wins and losses today, let us be mindful that God has a game plan for each of His image bearers. No matter the outcome, we can all win. Much love! Sylvia

Watch, "The God Who Sees" and be blessed!