As I held my baby niece for the first time, something hit me; this is life, this is what it feels like, what it looks like. And this is the true, underlying beauty of it. The thought of life may seem simple, but the beauty and complexity of it is undeniable.

My real new fascination with life began  when I had first learned that my sister was pregnant. She announced it at dinner–and I was completely unprepared and in awe, really. This had never happened to me before. No one close to me had ever been pregnant. Well, at least that I had witnessed and experienced in a thoughtful way. I was too little to remember my mom being pregnant with my two younger siblings, and I never have had a friend or acquaintance who had had a baby.

And then, suddenly, I changed. Actually knowing someone who was carrying a baby and counting the days until he or she would be born–I realized just how precious life is and how much I wanted to protect it. One of my greatest fears is the thought of not knowing a life, a particular life. I am now more truly aware of how terrible an abortion or a miscarriage would be, both things that take away the opportunity for an individual person to experience an individual life or having that life end prematurely. The idea of a soul not being able to carry out its purpose and vocation, to never be allowed to experience joy, sadness, accomplishment. That thought is truly heartbreaking to me now.

Paradoxically, I think I now have a glimpse into understanding how people could be indifferent to life, to be passively agreeable to abortion. It’s because they have never experienced life: the real, powerful feeling of its impact, how it changes every perspective in so many other lives. They’ve never seen their older sister grow bigger and more excited. They’ve never seen their brother-in-law send updates every week, or every day, on how his daughter is doing. They haven’t felt the joy of holding their niece for the first time. They’ve never seen the joy on their parents’ faces when they realize they are grandparents, and they haven’t seen their own siblings grow closer to each over the idea that they are an aunt or uncle.

I used to not have such a deep attachment to life. I simply went through my own life not conscious to the wonder of simply being alive each day. I got through doing my work and activities every day, not aware of much else. Now I want to love life more, and I have begun to do so. I want to spread that joy to others and help them feel it, too.

Once you’ve felt it, you will never forget the joy and beauty of life after you’ve experienced it from the beginning! Just like people who have a change of heart after a near-death experience, so can people who have a near-life experience. And these experiences which are the most personal because they affect other people who are closest to home are the ones that bring the most joy and have the most powerful impact.

Perhaps the experience in your own life may not be as dramatic as a birth or as devastating as a death;, Perhaps it is just a little spark that jolts you out of simply going through the activities and events of your day, suddenly you see each day as a chance to strive towards.a purpose or goal of interacting or looking forward to other lives around you. You open your eyes to your purpose in relationships around you and you want to do better, to try harder, to be more conscientious, or–to use the cliché: you want to live again. You have a new awareness of how much life matters and how much we should all want to protect each and every life.

Therese

Along with her younger sister, Lillian, in the first “Inside the Sacraments” DVD, Therese was the most-commented upon “Adventure Guide,” (and she was a big part of the second DVD on the Holy Mass)! Therese appeared in Glory Stories volume 12, “Codename: Cocol — Undercover for God.,” and she writes a bunch of the Holy Heroes quizzes, too. She is working with Anna and Clara on our Marian Consecration Family Adventure, and if you call our toll-free order number (1-855-879-2246) you might find her answering the phone!