During the 40 Days for Life Closing Celebration on November 6, I shared the new video “Blessings” which (from my perspective) captures the spirit of this 40 Days for Life campaign.  When the video ended, I talked to the small crowd gathered in the cold, damp air, about something I found to be quite amazing when capturing images for this video.

(Understanding that some may doubt the significance of my observations, I confessed that after long hours at the vigil I have been known to make extended observations relating to “trivial” things such as cracks in the sidewalk.)

The “Blessings” video returns several times to a scene of crosses outside the abortion center.  The crosses were placed in memory of the babies aborted the previous day, as the mothers left the abortion center one by one with aching, empty wombs.  On each cross, a name was written to represent the identities of the real human beings whose lives were sacrificed.  Early that morning as I videotaped the crosses dripping with water, I noticed that the front cross bore the name “Thomas,” while immediately behind that cross was a cross bearing the name “Mary.”

I knew (as Terri would later verify) that those crosses had not been intentionally placed in that arrangement; nevertheless, I found it to be interesting that the name most associate with the concept of “Doubting” (Thomas) was followed by the name most associate with the concept of “Faith” (Mary, of whom Luke 1:45 says “blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill His promises to her”)!

After the sun began to rise and the crosses began to dry off, I was further amazed to see the water droplets clinging to the “Mary” cross, while I observed no other droplets on the other crosses.

The morning of the Closing Celebration, Terri suggested that we read from Matthew 5 as a family.  I had not yet shared with her my thoughts relating to the crosses, but had “pondered them in my heart.”  But before she suggested Matthew 5, I had been thinking about Matthew 5:45, which says “… He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”

Just as all of those crosses were exposed to the water, but only the “Mary” cross retained the water droplets, God’s grace rains down on everyone, but only those with faith to believe in His promises retain that precious heavenly dew, while the faithless shed the divine rain just as water flows off of a duck’s back.