Have I absolutely lost my mind? Does this decision sabotage my art career for the second time this year? It all depends how one looks at it!
If I went into my closet today and came out wearing black eyeliner, a pink polka-dotted dress, a crazy hat with a feather, and an old leather jacket, I would actually get FEWER crazy looks from people about my clothes than the looks I get from those same people when I say I am pro-life. I still remember the first time I received the “look” when a client found out I was pro-life. While she couldn’t believe my ignorance, I couldn’t believe the look of surprise on her face and the rolling of her eyes. After all, I am a Christian, Jesus saved me, and I had been very open and honest about my faith. So why the surprise? I realized it was because she really liked me and also loved my art. She considered me to be an open-minded, understanding, empathic person, therefore, I had to be pro-choice because all the nice people are. Then consider my art. How can an artist be pro-life and demonstrate a solid, Biblically foundational viewpoint instead of going with the flow of every current sensation, popular trend, and upcoming cause needing virtue signaling?
So, I get lots of looks!
For a while I didn’t bother even talking about it. To be pro-life was a no-brainer to me. In the past, I had some private conversations, but did not see a need to be open about it in my art and business. Perhaps I am late to this movement; I just never thought that I needed to be so clear about being pro-life. I never realized that my voice really mattered. Who cares what I think? Who cares what I support? Do we really need to all take a stand? Can’t we just keep those private beliefs, private? And especially when such a topic becomes so polarizing and political? That is something I could never quite understand. Family is sacred, and the value and protection of life should be safe from politics, not taken advantage of by it.
Then why did I decide to start using my art and my book to support Options United? This is what may be viewed as a middle age crisis; I will call it maturing as a Christ follower and getting to the point where I want everything I do to be used for His glory and to promote His purposes.
It is obvious that God is definitely pleased when we protect His children especially when so many are aborted. During the lockdown of 2020, when so many statistics concerning various health and well-being issues were coming to the forefront, the most alarming was the increasing number of abortions! I was shocked to see it. According to various sources, the number of abortions in the US in 2020 was approximately 930,000, with a rate of 14.4 per 1,000 women. The Guttmacher Institute estimated that approximately 21% of all pregnancies in the US ended in induced abortion in 2020, and according to the CDC, “a total of 620,327 abortions for 2020 were reported to CDC from 49 reporting areas.” https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/ss/ss7110a1.htm Notice this additional article stating many people died from Covid in the US in 2020. As of 3:30 p.m. E.T. on 12/14/2020, the total death count was 300,267. https://time.com/5919867/covid-19-300000-deaths/. The increase of 961 abortions didn’t make the Times. How do they fit in with the idea of abortions being safe and rare? All those women risked dying from Covid to have an abortion?
Many years ago, when I was still in Poland, I learned the horrific consequences of the inactive and silent majority. We read many books about the Holocaust and wondered why it happened. Why did only a few people stand up, valuing life by hiding Jewish families while others were satisfied to stand idly by? Evil happens when people see it, yet choose to do nothing about it. I don’t need to stop all the evil in the world, but whatever evil I see on the path of my life, I want to risk the “looks” from others.
Can you see now that my middle age crisis is not a crisis at all? I am finally having the guts to stand on the right side of history, not silently with private satisfaction and righteousness of my beliefs, but publicly and boldly before everyone. So if it looks like the worst move for my art business, I trust God that He will turn my stand into His kind of movement and produce through me fruit that looks good to Him. After all, I can’t take my art career to heaven. Remember the gospel of Matthew and the story about tree and fruit. People will know I am a Christian by my fruit, regardless of the “looks” I receive. What does my fruit look like? It is exhibited by valuing life, protecting those most at risk. So be a good tree that brings forth good fruit.
God bless you!