Marching doesn’t save babies. You do.

We’re back from the March for Life and different blog posts have been going through my mind for the last day. I could talk about . . .

• how inspiring it was to leave campus with a few hundred people who were PUMPED about being pro-life
• how discouraging it is that far less than a quarter of those people will stay engaged in pro-life activities this semester
• the awesomeness of ecumenism at the March
• blatant misrepresentation of the March by the media
• the need to be careful to not make life an issue only for religious people
• how so many people check “pro-life” off their to-do list after marching but don’t do anything else
• the pro-“choice” people who tried to stop the March and refused to comply with the police
• the civil right movement parallels
• politicians who are not practicing what they preach
• the new brand of feminism making waves in pro-life circles
• the ridiculous fact that people can’t agree a 20 week abortion ban makes sense

There’s so, so much to be said. I’ve been reading, looking at all the pictures and soaking it all in – trying to figure out what I want to say. And obviously from the list, you can see there are plenty of thoughts that could be developed more. But so much of them are negative. So much of my thoughts after the March are disappointing.

Because I know the march is only one day.

Marching is one day – one battle. But our victory over the culture of death depends on winning the overall war, not just a single battle each year.

Being in a crowd of hundreds of thousands of people reminds me that I am not alone in my beliefs. It also reminds me that when it does feel lonely and things get frustrating, I have to persevere. I cannot let this war happen in our world without putting on some armor and doing my part. Lives depend on it.

God has called each of us in our own way to be part of challenging the powers that be who tell us abortion and other attacks on human life are okay. We are not called to chill on our iPads or spend hours on Facebook. We are freaking meant to

CHANGE

THE

WORLD.

Maybe it’s just smiling at a stranger today, volunteering somewhere each month, or sending a note home to your momma. Maybe it’s getting back to church. Or standing up for the truth in everyday conversations. Or taking time to educate yourself. Or making a plan for how to integrate your pro-life beliefs into your job. Or just striving to be really, really good at whatever you’ve been given talent in.

Whatever it is, just do it.

Please don’t wait until next year’s march. Because guess what? If we all just rolled up our sleeves, did the dirty work, and stopped making excuses it would be amazing.

During a recent homily, a priest talked about how we try to fit God into our daily schedules. But in reality, true peace only comes when we abandon ourselves to His will. We have to ask and pursue what He made us for, because nothing else will quench our thirst.

Are you with me? Yes, it makes me slightly squeamish too. That’s part of why “abandon” is my theme of the year. I need the challenge. I need to work on asking God to use me to accomplish his plan for the world, not trying to figure out how I can fix ALL the things.

I can’t. You can’t.

This frustrates me to no end because being pro-life is simple. Every life is a gift. That’s it. That people can not or refuse to recognize that makes me sad for those who have not seen the beauty of it. Seeing life as a beautiful gift changes how I live, and knowing people have not encountered this beauty makes me want to cry. There are people making traumatic choices because they are broken and lost and hurt and we need to help them.

Please will you try to not forget about this?

Don’t forget the united power of hundreds of thousands of people.

Don’t forget that people are dying.

Don’t forget that people who don’t know better depend on us to give them the new message.

Our world is crying for lack of love and hope – the two most basic things the pro-life movement is all about. The good news is that evil has been conquered by love. Love always wins. And each of us is given the tools to be part of history by simply standing up.

So stand up.

Know what you believe.

Talk about it.

Fight for it.

Walk the walk.

Because simply moving our feet doesn’t save babies. But we can. We can touch hearts. We can be good friends to our brothers and sisters in a broken world. We can show people the beauty of life through our witness. God can use any of us to do great things. We can join together and tell our society we’ve had enough of its lies. We can give people hope. We can love people we come in contact with.

A single march isn’t going to change the world. But you can do something. You are capable of being a witness to the beauty of life. Your first step – our first steps – are just the beginning of the end of death.

So let’s start today.

To Life,

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