A Monday Morning Meeting

“Have fun!” the babysitter cheerily sang as I left the house.

“I don’t know how much fun it will be. This is pretty serious business,” I said half to her, half to myself.

As I arrived at the printing shop, I checked in the rearview mirror to make sure there were no tell-tale signs of my tears.

I went to the front desk and asked for the location of my meeting. The owner of the shop was not there yet, but I could have a seat, the receptionist said. I walked through the offices of the award-winning mom-and-pop printer and was shown to a room where an elderly gentleman sat, reading a paper, waiting for the others to arrive.

I felt like I was going to an underground political meeting. We were not offered a room to meet at our church over the summer, and the printer had kindly offered the use of their building for our purposes.

“I guess I have time for my breakfast,” I joked lightheartedly, holding up the banana I had grabbed, along with my coffee, as I headed out the door.

I am so unaccustomed to attending meetings without my children that I barely have time to really let the reasons for them to sink in. I think about how to explain the reason for our meeting without hurting their innocent young hearts, but not how to protect my own.

Halfway down the highway I started thinking how profoundly sad was the reason for our mission. That is when the tears started rolling down my face. I brushed them aside so I could see the road.

A Pro-Life meeting has such a happy ring to it. And yet the reason for our meetings is to discuss how best to reach the community to convince people to keep their babies. The fact that this is necessary, in the most pro-life western nation of the industrialized world, is what I have such a hard time grappling with.

Soon I will start writing about 40 Days for Life, which begins on Sept. 24 and commences on Nov. 2. You can log onto the website to find out about this campaign, and sign up for a newsletter which will come daily during those 40 days of prayer and fasting.

Painting by Nicolas Poussin. The Baby Moses Saved from the River. 1647. Oil on canvas. Louvre, Paris, France.