I Received a Keychain

I received a keychain from my mother-in-law recently. She had just returned from the March for Life in D.C. and I saw it sitting on the counter. I didn't say anything to her, just looked at it. It was a little rubber keychain shaped like a 10 week old unborn baby. I didn't say anything, but my heart began to pound. Ten weeks is how far along the doctors wanted me to be before my first checkup the first time I was ever pregnant. Ten weeks is the first time I ever heard my baby's heartbeat. Ten weeks is the last time I know that Elisha Marmion was alive. Shortly after the ten week checkup is when the doctors say that our Elisha passed away and left us without our baby. The keychain was meant to educate, to show people what our smallest members of society look like so soon after their creation. To me the keychain is attached to strong memories of the baby I still long to hold. I silently set the keychain down and wandered away, lost in my thoughts. Such a small piece of rubber and metal can represent so many things to so many people.

Later, maybe only and hour or so, as my mother-in-law was going through her things she saw the keychain where she had left it. She picked it up, walked over to me, and asked if I wanted it. I took it from her calmly, my heart pounding again. I really did want it, though I'm not sure why. I try not to be attached to things of this world, and yet I'm so grateful that it was offered to me. Here, now I have this little man made token of so many powerful thoughts.

My sister-in-law in another room mentioned that many of the kids on the trip had thought them weird or creepy. The people who made them meant them to be educational and eye opening. Do they know how many people will see their one small symbol in rubber, who it will affect?  To me it brings back powerful memories of a loved one gone away. I imagine some people might see it as an argument, a sign of all that they are angry about with the pro-life movement. I wonder how mothers who have had abortions would feel about the keychain? Those mothers who don't fully realize what they have done, and those who do? One small object can have so much power in so many ways.

God have mercy on us all. In every action and every word guide us. We are too small to see the depths that our actions will travel to, Lord help us to do your will, to be the instrument of your peace and the ones who can share your love with this hurting world.

Update:
Since first writing this post, the keychain mysteriously detached from my wallet zipper and is gone from me. This is just another symbolic reminder of the brief time that we may have with each gift in our life. A gift should never be taken for granted, and I cherish each moment that I have to spend with the gift of my children while I have them.