About Elodie

There's a little girl I know whose name is Elodie. I met her when I visited my penpal Lucile in France in 2004. She was only 5 months old then. She was a really adorable baby. She didn't have much hair, but she had a smile that could melt anyone's heart. She had chubby cheeks that dimpled, and when she laughed you could see her first teeth starting to peek out. She would giggle furiously whenever I shook my hair around. I never got tired of hearing her laugh. I would play with her while her mom chatted in French with Lucile's family. We had fun, Elodie and I. She was a very special baby.

Sometimes I think about how she is now. She's probably in school, learning French and arithmetic and science and art. I imagine her with her little school friends, playing on the playground. Maybe she likes making up stories like my little sister. Maybe her favorite thing to do is play with dolls or toy animals. Maybe she draws pictures and writes, "Je t'aime Maman!" (I love you Mommy!). I wonder if her hair is long and curly like her mom's was. I wonder if she has a little brother or sister now. I wonder if her family has ever heard about Jesus.

Elodie would've turned seven this year. But she won't be having a birthday party. In fact, she's never had a birthday party. She never even turned one year old. That's because her life was cut short before she was even born.

Elodie is real, but I never met her. I never heard her laugh, and her mom never heard her say, "Je t'aime, Maman!" While I was in France, Lucile just happened to tell me about a girl at her school who had gotten pregnant. The school nurse was able to give her abortion inducing drugs to "take care of it" without her parents ever knowing about it. When I heard this, I was shocked and horrified. I knew abortion existed, but this was the first time I really comprehended the godlessness of it. My heart was instantly tied to this poor girl, this prematurely young mother who never met her baby.

As far as I know, Jesus and I are the only ones who grieve for Elodie. (My apologies if it should be Elias.) Her mother and the school nurse didn't regard her as precious, her grandparents didn't even know about her, and even Lucile referred to her life with a shrug. I gave her a name since no one else did: Elodie Elàn W. I'm not sure what the W. stands for but if you listen to or watch the message that stirred all these thoughts up, maybe you'll understand.

Open your mouth for the speechless,
In the cause of all who are appointed to die.
Open your mouth, judge righteously,
And plead the cause of the poor and needy
-Proverbs 31:8-9

Deliver those who are drawn toward death,
And hold back those stumbling to the slaughter.
If you say, "Surely we did not know this,"
Does not He who weighs the hearts consider it?
He who keeps your soul, does He not know it?
And will He not render to each man according to his deeds?
-Proverbs 24:11-12

Open your mouth, Bride of Christ! Pray! When we pray His prayers, His Word will not return void. We are not helpless bystanders. Pray that even today that hearts of mothers and fathers would be turned toward their children, and toward their Heavenly Father. Lord Jesus, let us be doers of the Word and not hearers only.