Roses are Red...

One of the major criticisms we hear of the pro-life stance is that we care about babies, but not about the mothers. Even though this is not true, I understand how it could be misinterpretted to feel that way. For this reason, we added another event to Bearfoot for Babies that seemingly has nothing to do with Babies. We handed roses out to women on campus today and told them they were beautiful.

On these roses, were tied little notes that the young religious education students at our parish wrote for them. Most of them said, "You are Precious!" or "You are Precious to God!" We did this to treat them with and help them know the dignity they have in being a daughter of God. It was such a beautiful treat to be the one handing them out. Each time I gave a rose away, I was blessed to witness their eyes light up. They would get a little excited and look a little giddy. You could see in their eyes something that said, "Wow... for me? :)" Then, they would become a little skeptical. I think our society has done this to us - made us skeptical of any genuine generosity. We get uncomfortable allowing anyone to do something for us without giving them something in return. Even those of us who can be generous sometimes struggle accepting someone else's generosity. Oftentimes we expect there to be a catch. It was refreshing to be able to honestly answer there inquiries about why I was giving away free roses with a response that told them just because I care about you, just because you are beautiful, just because you are worth it, just because you deserve a little joy and surprise today, just because God was thinking about you... I was honored to receive each of those little smiles for Jesus.

 

And let us not forget the men. The students also made little notes for them. These read, "Man up and defend life." Although my personal favorite was one that read, "You are precious to God? Man up and defend yourself!" haha. We attached these to packs of M&Ms and the men handed them out to men on campus. Sounded like they brought up a lot of good pro-life discussion.