Kudos to Downton Abbey

I have a confession to make.  I love the show Downton Abbey.  There aren't too many shows the Holy Spirit will let me watch on television (seriously), so when I find one that has His approval, I am THRILLED!!

For those of you not familiar with Downton Abbey, it is a beautiful portrayal of life for the super wealthy in the early 1900's.

I actually had on my mind to write this blog on their nightly tradition of mealtime centered around a table followed by a time of fellowship in the "drawing room", and how we need to take a lesson from the importance they placed on that daily practice.

I may expound on that topic at another point, but this last Sunday night's episode peeked another subject matter in need of highlighting. (Warning: Spoiler Alert if you missed Sunday.)  

Last night 10.2 million viewers watched and gasped as Edith wrestled with whether to abort her unborn child.  In the moments of her waiting in the "doctor's" office while she listened to the cries of one who had previously chosen death, it was as if 10 million people all at once pleaded with a fictional TV character, "NOOOOO, don't do it!!!"

The TV show did a fairly decent depiction of the issues surrounding abortion.  It was very secretive. Edith realized she may not be able to be around babies ever again due to the pain it would cause her.  She knew she would have to live with a lie and the fact that she had killed the baby she wanted from the man she loved. She acknowledged that it was indeed a baby.

However, I have to wonder.  Was there one person out there in TV land watching that was rooting for Edith to choose death?  Was there one person out of 10 million that thought, "That's right, Edith.  You have to do that, it is the only way for you to have the life you want."  Or could every single person out there see that if she would have chosen death, that death would have followed her home.

Abortion doesn't solve any crisis, it only creates further chaos.  The very thing promised to quiet the consequences of choices, brings silent chains of despair, grief, and shame.

If Edith would have chosen abortion, I can predict what would have followed.  I can predict it because I have lived it.  She would have fallen into a deep depression followed and accompanied by self-destructive behaviors.  She would have shunned close interaction with her nephew and niece and other babies while coddling her destructive secret.  She would have withdrawn from her family, feeling unworthy with her lie tucked safely behind a mask.  Her life would never be the same and the shadow of her "choice" would have followed her relentlessly whispering words of condemnation and guilt.

I wonder if everyone watching saw the two roads ahead of Edith.  One ending in life.  One ending in death. Or, if my perceptions were sharpened due to experience.  However, if 10 million viewers were on edge for her to choose life, would they also react the same in reality.  If it was a friend, a neighbor, a relative, a daughter, or self?  Would they be rooting for life then?  Or would the circumstances surrounding the decision cloud their thoughts?

One is a pretend baby in TV land.  However, every day 125,000 abortions are performed.  125,000 babies' lives ended today due to a choice.  This isn't pretend.  This isn't TV.  This is real and this is horrid.  If that number doesn't shock you, I pray you would get down on your knees and ask why it doesn't.

While I have to give Downton Abbey kudos for being brave enough to show some of the dark realities surrounding abortion, it still doesn't begin to come near to the true darkness that results from an innocent life being taken in the name of choice.

I saw a Planned Parenthood campaign today that said, "Women need safe and legal abortions for valentine's day." http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/02/10/planned-parenthood-president-women-need-abortions-for-valentines-day/  and my heart sank.  Abortion is a lie and I won't be quiet about it.  I know some of you may even feel uncomfortable with me talking about it right now, but the truth must be told.

Thank you, Edith, from Downton Abbey, for choosing life.  I pray for those in the real world who are faced with the same decision.  I promise you, abortion will not solve anything, it will only result in despair, pain and regret. Take one breath and trust the Lord.  Babies are a blessing, not a crisis, and never a curse.

"I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live" Deuteronomy 30:19 

"For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them." Ps 139:13-16

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you."  Jeremiah 1:5