Safe?

“Ooh! Is he – quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.”

“That you will, and no mistake. If there’s anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they’re either braver than most or else just silly.”

“Then he isn’t safe?”

“Safe? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the king, I tell you.”

Excerpt from The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe

I’ve been awake since 3:00 am and finally decided, in order to go back to sleep, I would probably have to empty my mind. It’s now 5:20 and the winds seem to have died down in West Chicago; at least for the time being. The world is covered with a thick blanket. It’s amazing how peaceful the world is when it’s covered in white.

For the past couple of hours my mind has been stuck on thoughts of “safety” and “high risk.” I was actually awoken by a text. A good friend is giving birth to their sixth child this morning after what the doctors have called a “high risk pregnancy.” (Seems like an ironic term to me.)

I think it’s odd that the best we can do is wish people “safety.” The signs in front of every high school before each break state “Have a safe and happy ______ (fill in the blank).” Why not, “Have the adventure of your lifetime, full of challenges and joys that will take you to incredible new places and teach you amazing new thing, so that when you return you are a better and more complete person than you were when you left?”

I know it doesn’t fit on the sign very well. Actually, it doesn’t fit in our culture very well either. Yet, I don’t remember Jesus putting on latex-free gloves before healing the leper. His discourse to His disciples before sending them out did not include, “Make sure you have a backup plan, just in case...” Saint Paul wasn’t out of God’s will just because he was shipwrecked, beaten, and eventually killed.

Who said anything about safe?

Don’t get me wrong, I wear my seatbelt every time I get in the car, I try to eat healthy, and even exercise on occasion. I think we should be wise as we face the everyday dangers of this world.

But there is more to abundant life; a lot more. Earlier I wrote that “high-risk pregnancy” seems like an ironic term to me. In our country “high-risk pregnancy” is nothing compared to “high-risk raising of those children for the next 18 years and beyond.” Yet, in our “safe and happy” culture we keep doing it; we keep having kids.

What does this have to do with the adoption of Rosa Maria Cecilia, you may ask. (After all, that’s why you are here, right?) We could lessen the risk of low birth weight by making sure that Luciana eats an extra 1500 calories each day during pregnancy. We could strengthen our chances of having a child at the top of his class by having her consume at least two eggs daily during the first trimester. We could even encourage a love of the arts by playing Mozart while our baby is still in utero.

But that is not what Luciana and I are called to do. We are called to parent Cecilia and whatever that may entail. We will do all we can to give her a wonderful life; full of adventure, and joy, and challenge. We ask for your prayers as we live out this adventure.

And don’t worry...

we will buckle her up every time we get in the car.

mbp