Several years ago, a teenage girl in my youth ministry told me that she was pregnant and didn't know what to do.
She felt scared and alone. She feared the possible negative reactions from her parents and her friends, and she felt hurt that the baby’s father was not interested in whatever decision she would make.
To make a long story short, the girl ultimately decided to give the baby up for adoption. Eight months later, she gave birth to a baby girl and handed her over to another family.
There was tremendous pain in that decision. She did not make it lightly, and she understood the long-term implications. However, she also knew what was best for this baby girl, and she made the bravest and most selfless decision any person in her situation could have made.
And her sacrifice created a family.
There was a painful moment of death for this girl when she said goodbye to her baby. It was a moment that will stay with her for the rest of her life.
There was a moment of new life for the baby and the family who adopted her.
There was a death, and then there was a resurrection.
This week, my friends Nate and Jackie adopted a newborn baby (you can read their story on her blog). They have been working for years toward this moment. In fact, they did not even believe that they would receive a baby as quickly as they did. I recently heard them speculate that they may have to wait as long as two years.
However, it happened much sooner than they had expected.
In addition to their young son, they now have a newborn baby girl, and she is theirs. They have experienced resurrection, and their family will never be the same.
From a birth mother’s great fear and uncertainty and sacrifice emerges a moment of creation and life-changing love for a growing family.
What a beautiful picture of resurrection.
Thank God for birth parents who make the greatest and bravest of sacrificial choices.
Thank God for people who adopt babies and the families they create.
Thank God for resurrection.
Amen.
To read more about everyday resurrection, take a look at yesterday’s post, The Avocado Must Die.