For You From The Word
If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. (Luke 9:24, NLT)
For You To Think About
November is National Adoption Awareness Month
Women and men who face an unplanned pregnancy – and those who love them – can easily buy into accepted myths about the adoption option.
One of those myths is this: “Adoption means you’re giving up your child.”
Words matter. Let’s look at these particular words.
“Giving up”: implies surrender, as if there were no other option. Yet birth parents who choose the adoption option overwhelmingly describe their choice as proactive. Adoption is not chosen on a whim. It’s a careful decision in which the birth mother weighs options. And with open adoptions on the rise, a birth parent need not “give up” all contact with the child, but can stay in touch with the family and even have a relationship with the child.
“Placing”: the more appropriate language in the choice for adoption, “placing a child” implies purpose and intentionality. To place a child means the birth mother nurtures the child for nine months, brings the child into the world, and chooses parents to raise the child.
A birth parent never “gives up” a child for adoption. She makes a sacrifice to place her child in the arms of a loving family.
For You To Pray
Gracious Father,
Thank you for the gift of life. Speak to women who face an unplanned pregnancy. Help them to make the choice that is best for themselves and their baby.
In Jesus name, Amen.
More about Adoption
A College Student Chooses Adoption