Flowers at the Gate

I confess to almighty God, and to you, my brothers and sisters, that I have sinned through my own fault, in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done, and in what I have failed to do …..”

Coming off of a beautiful Mother's Day weekend including wonderful family get-togethers I am so grateful to God for my many blessings. Despite very rainy weather the celebrations were not at all dampened.

Never the less, the weekend was shrouded in sadness for me from a story I had been following on Friday. A 22-year-old woman and her 9-month-old son were found dead in their apartment somewhere in Pennsylvania. Early reports stated that Sara Kessler was a 'known drug addict' and it was assumed she died of an overdose. A later story revealed that the autopsy showed she had died of bronchial pneumonia. Her infant son, Casey died of dehydration. As unbelievably sad as this is....it gets worse.

The story states that ‘neighbors reported’ that baby Casey cried in the apartment non-stop for two days. This made the whole matter not only devastating but damning. Tell me we have not become a nation filled with depraved indifference.

As the Director of a crisis pregnancy center, I began to go through in my mind some of our own clients….their faces blurring into one. We have had clients that are just as alone as this young woman and for that reason we continue to work with them until their baby is two years old. They can come in once a month for diapers or formula or clothing and they are greeted with a caring volunteer who takes an interest in their lives and how they are doing…encouraging them in their futures.

Our center, on the outskirts of St. Louis, is not exactly in the middle of nowhere. They come from poor rural communities, well-to-do areas and everything in between. While some have spousal/relationship support, many do not. Many have burned bridges with family—some have had family turn their backs on them. A few are a total mess. None deserve to die like Sara and baby Casey.

The story also reveals that Sara lived in that apartment with her mother, who had passed away from natural causes last November. They interviewed Sara’s brother who also lived in the area. They were not close and he stated it was not unusual to not connect with each other for several days at a time. So goes the story of so many women we see in our office.

We are a nation of people that no longer want to be bothered. The poor? The government has a program for them. The indigent…’are there not homeless shelters’? Many won’t even help their own family members. Worse, if a woman can’t take care of a baby, clearly abortion is the answer. I refuse to accept that this is who we have become.

Our national efforts to assist these people have instead had the effect of leaving them more helpless then in generations past. Worse, it has caused us to turn inward – even fearful of reaching out to those who live all around us because it could get ‘messy’ and surely there is an agency for that. Instead, we leave flowers at the gate…candles to express the sadness we do seem to still feel when something this unconscionable has happened to a fellow sojourner. Balloons to celebrate a life. It gets a mention on the 10 o’clock news. As much as we would want it to be so…we know deep in our souls that it does not make up for the indifference that led to the loss.

We have to be better than this. Volunteer. Care. Show the love of Christ not only to those you are close to but to those you do not know. Cast out the fear of getting involved. There are opportunities not only in your church but also in your community. Heed the call. Count your blessings. Be a channel of God’s love…not a reservoir. Let your renewed spirit of caring and giving be the ‘flowers’ left for Sara and Casey. We can do this.