She may have been president. She may have become a scientist and discovered the cure to AIDS, or cancer, or arthritis.

We will never know.

She might have been “just a mom,” beloved by her husband, and vital in the shaping of the lives of her children. She might have made them productive, and honest, and Christian.

But we will never know.

She might have become a missionary, and helped to bring the Gospel to a land sunk in ignorance and sin. She might have educated little children, opening vistas to those in grinding poverty.

She might have, but we will never know.

She was brim-full of potential, beyond the imagination.

The sky was the limit for her! Within her genetical make-up was the potential for love, laughter and compassion in abundance. But this potential will remain forever unfulfilled, the promise never kept, for this child’s mother had “the right to choose.”

“Behold children are a heritage from the Lord” (Psalm 127:3, ESV).

“Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven”

(Matthew 19:14).

— by Stan Mitchell