"They shall not labor in vain,

or bear children for calamity;

for they shall be the offspring of the blessed of the LORD,

and their children with them."

Isaiah 65:23

Here on the farm, there are a handful of things that never get old:

•Harvesting mulberries (the first ripe fruit of the year)

•The smell of the earth after a soaking rain

•Early mornings with the Bible open and a cup of coffee on the porch

•Welcoming new life

Today I'd like to say a few words on welcoming new life.

The farm has seen so far 3 rabbit litters (one of 11!!), and 3 sets of goat twins to happy healthy mamas, as well as two broods of baby chicks, and a brood of baby ducklings. We're positively brimming with new life! And it's beautiful to watch the mothers nurture their offspring.

The instincts each has to feed, clean, protect, love and teach astounds me. These mamas just somehow seem to know all the things it's taken me 6 children to understand and a decade to learn to do well. It's been difficult many times, for many years, and yet I still find it to be the most satisfying and rewarding work of my life! Never did I ever forsee myself as a stay-at-home mother, let alone a stay-at-home mother to 6 children, each one unique and sometimes painfully different than their siblings. And through this, the Lord has taught me the immense value of life- the innocent life of a child- and how selfishly I tend to seek my own interests above theirs. It has been a wonderful sanctification of my own soul to consistently and habitually put the service and care of other human beings before myself, and the Lord has rewarded me both in tangible and intangible ways. However, for some reason, my experience seems to no longer be the norm.

The United States right now is in population growth crisis, or better stated, lack of population growth crisis. This isn't a unique phenomenon either. On a worldwide scale, birthrates are plummeting, specifically in the Western world. While there are likely many reasons for this, not the least of which is that we have forgotten the Truth about new life.

Because of a decades generations-long campaign to liberate women from their homes, husbands, children, even their own bodies, we've seen a consistent and deliberate decline in SC (or successful conceptions, meaning those resulting in live birth). 

"Pregnancy scare," "in-trouble," "pre-existing condition" are only a few of the negatively framed terms used to refer to pregnancy in our society. Generally, these coincide with unintentional conceptions from unmarried couples, abusive relationships, one-night-stands, etc., though even Christian couples occasionally refer to pregnancy as "unplanned" or "unintended." To do so in my opinion is to undercut what Scripture has to say about pregnancy, birth, life in general- that it is sacred, ordained by the Lord, who opens and closes the womb, precious in His sight, and the mark of blessing and eternal inheritance. We've become so selfish, that women truly believe they have a right to use, abuse, and mistreat their bodies on the basis of want, base animal instinct, convenience, career, monetary gain, financial stability... The list goes on and on. 

Yet, the most astonishing statistic to me is not that our culture has declined to the point of mass-murdering innocents, but that there is a desparity between the number of women seeking abortions, and the number of abortions performed. This statistic came to me via a Natural Womanhood article:

Did you catch those numbers? 

Just over 1% of the US female population is committing 68% of abortions in the United States performed using the abortion pill. That is staggering and heart wrenching. This statistic, while grim, fails to take into consideration those abortions not medically overseen, those performed surgically rather than chemically.

Even across history- multiple world wars, considering all life ended via military conflict, men have taken just over 1 million lives. Statistically, women are taking that many lives per year.

What has happened to our women? When did motherhood go from a position of honor and respect to a feared, despised, and hated unintended consequence?

I believe it happened when we denied women Liberty that comes from knowing Christ and convinced them to trade it for Liberty that comes from the world. No personal responsibility, no accountability, no morality. No reason, no shame, no meaning. What I want, when I want, how I want, and no one has authority to stop me.

Life doesn't work that way on a farm. If a Mama doesn't produce babies, we don't eat. Simple as that. If a hen doesn't lay eggs, we don't have chicken, or eggs. If a goat doesn't kid, we don't have milk, or cheese, butter, yogurt, soap. If a rabbit doesn't kindle, we don't have meat. Are we getting the picture? Whatever isn't procreating isn't being fruitful and growing. Whatever isn't growing is stagnating. Whatever is stagnating eventually deteriorates and dies.

If women won't have children and raise them, nurture them, teach and train them- then we don't have a society. Simple as that. We don't have generations of entrepreneurs, philosophers, thinkers, artists, tradesmen, carpenters, healers, teachers, leaders, warriors, poets- whatever is stagnating eventually deteriorates and dies. And that's where we are as a society, because we abandoned the love of life - not just our lives but all life.

It's a miracle. Regardless of how it was conceived, regardless of the circumstances surrounding its birth, life is sacred because God ordained it, and set his Image upon it, and Christ died to redeem it from the curse of sin- adultery, bigamy, rape, incest,- Christ paid for all of it. Christ came from all of it. Have you ever studied the genetic line of Jesus Christ of Nazareth? It's rife with sin. Riddled with people born in and of sin. And yet, what Christ took on in his flesh, in his genetic line, He also redeemed, fully, completely, to the uttermost. The argument in favor of circumstantially appropriate abortion is irrelevant, because in Christ, all find redemption, healing, life. New Life. And that is always worth celebrating.

"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly." -John 10:10