Adira's Heart

Adira’s Heart

Adira rode her vintage vesper as fast as she could toward her house to bring her family the news. She had been in the town center to purchase items for her mother and heard about the ruling. Adira’s dreadlocked braids were flying in the wind like a banner advertising her urgency to get back to her home on the outskirts of Legacy, a town about 50 miles from the city of Anarch.

In fact, Adira’s family had moved from the city several years earlier. Her dad, Keton, had seen the direction that the government was moving in. So, he decided to move his family away to a more peaceful and safe environment that reflected his family's values. He had been actively involved in the city’s government like his father and grandfather before him, but things had changed drastically in recent years.

Adira loved and admired her dad greatly and wanted to follow in his footsteps one day. Like her mother, Camila, she trusted her father’s decisions. She had never known her father to lead them in the wrong direction in all of her 15 years and as the oldest of her six siblings, soon to be seven, since her mother was pregnant. Adira loved every moment of helping her mother care for her siblings. In fact, her mother would be delivering the baby in a few months, which is why she had taken on more of the responsibility to run into town on errands. But her parents always gave her strict instructions before she left in order to help keep her safe. They had noticed that some of the values embraced in the city had been encroaching upon their town.

Many years ago, when the government had made the decision to directly involve spiritual leaders in legislating government, Keton’s parents had been hopeful about the change. They believed that the voice of a loving, compassionate God needed to be heard more clearly in the hallowed halls of government. After years of debate and conflict that seemed at times would produce civil war in the country, a branch of government called The Ecclesiastic Branch was added to the Judicial, Legislative, and Executive branches of government with the hope that their decisions would help to produce a more compassionate and peace-loving nation. Spiritual leaders who were chosen by the people were given voting power the same as elected lay people were given.

However, over the years spiritual leaders had begun to compromise their beliefs. Factions that existed among spiritual leaders began to cause discord. The decisions they made were no longer in agreement with one another. Many had yielded to the pressure of the greater society’s values and standards. The values that many had assumed would never be compromised by those who claimed to serve a righteous God had been violated over and over. One of those values was the sanctity of human life.

“Mother! Father! I have news!” Adira cried as she pulled into her family’s front yard and dropped her beloved Vespa on the ground. She pushed through the door into the kitchen where her mother, heavily pregnant, was drinking a glass of juice while her father enjoyed a cup of coffee. They seemed to be having a serious discussion but looked up with loving, proud expressions at their oldest daughter. Then they glanced sadly at each other as though they already knew what she was going to say.

“Mother! Father! I heard about the ruling while I was walking past the town council offices on the way to the store!

“Slow down and catch your breath, Adira!,” her mother exclaimed as her father went to the refrigerator to get her bottled water.

“But mother ... I have to tell you and father now!”

“OK, Adira.” her father said, as he placed the water in front of her. “Just take a second to cool down a bit.”

Adira grabbed the bottle of water and gulped it down quickly, then wiped her mouth with the back of her hand as she anxiously spoke her next words.

“The government has signed a ruling which states that population control will go into full effect beginning the first of the new year. No new babies will be allowed to be born after January 1st until the government does a census in every city and township.”

Then Adira started weeping as though a pressure valve in her heart had been released. “Mommaaaa!,” she cried, “What’s going to happen to the baby!”

Her mother and father looked at each other again, tears in their eyes then looked back at her.

“Adira, we knew this was coming. Of course, we had hoped that somehow a miracle would occur. We didn’t want to believe that this could happen in the year 2073 with all the advancements our nation has achieved. It has been bad enough that women were given the right to kill their babies in the womb by choice. We had really hoped that the nation would overturn that evil decision from almost 100 years ago that opened the door to this and so many other evils. But we never would have believed before now that government would order the killings. It is another tragic and sad day in the history of our nation.”

Adira could not stop crying, but she also felt anger rise inside of her.

“How can they do this ... again ... to innocents babies ... and to mothers who want their babies!” she cried out loudly.

“Well,” her father replied, “the government has actually been perpetrating this evil for a long time. It’s just that they have never been so bold as to put the government-ordered killing of babies into law.”

Adira gasped in shock at her father’s bold statement of what was happening.

“But many of those,” he continued, “who claim to serve God did not continue to stand on the values and principles of a loving and compassionate God, and apparently, we lost the battle. In fact, there is a new “church” that has been rising in power and status over the last few years called the Church of Molech. Their resources are vast, and they have been able to pay for much of the support they have received. The leader of that congregation was voted into the Ecclesiastical branch during the last election and has been gaining a lot of support from individuals in all four branches.

Adira spoke boldly, “Well ... I’M going to do something about it!”

Again, Adira’s parents looked at each other sadly. She didn’t understand the looks they were exchanging but was too incensed to focus on it.

She also didn’t fully understand everything her parents were saying to her. But there is one thing she was certain of ... SHE would be a part of the movement that overturned this evil law once and for all and in its entirety.

Then both her parents turned, looking directly at her, and said, “Adira, there is something we must share with you.”

Adira felt her anxiety increase as she noted the expressions on their faces. They seemed to contain a mixture of pride and fear and helplessness and surrender.

Then her mother spoke.

“Adira ... when you were a baby and we were living in Anarch, a prophet approached me during a meeting and told me some things. She said my daughter would become a great leader, saving the lives of the most innocent.”

“She also said that others leaders would be sent to you to train you and that there would be much opposition to your assignment. However, God would create many doors of opportunity that you would walk through.”

While her mother was sharing these things with her, Adira’s father walked to a chest in the family’s living area and pulled out a beautiful blue velvet box.

“What is it?” Adira exclaimed

“Look inside,” he replied

When Adira opened the box, she gasped in awe as a bright red glow emitted from the box.

It was a heart-shaped locket embedded with bright red minutely cut rubies.

Her mother explained, “The prophet said when it was brought into the presence of the one to whom it belonged it would glow. Your father and I have prayed about this for years. So, we knew it was you and that this time would come.”

“Why me?,” Adira exclaimed, “and why are you giving this to me?”

“We know you are young, but you are strong. We also know you have a special assignment,” her father told her.

“What is the assignment?”

“Once the baby brother is born, “ her father continued, “you will leave with him immediately to go with your aunt and uncle. We have already discussed the plan with them, and they have been preparing for years. Since hospital records show that your aunt and uncle are unable to have children, and they do not expect officials to visit them, they were grateful and honored to be your guardians for this assignment.”

Adira sent a quick “Thank you” up to God for her aunt and uncle. Then she remembered something, “But momma, the baby isn’t due until early January!”

Adira’s father further explained the plan, “Officials will not get to our town until about mid to late January. Also, your mother has a history of delivering babies a little early, and we are praying that it will be the case this time. You and your baby brother will leave with your aunt and uncle soon after. Your assignment will be to protect him and train him in our values as he grows older, even as you are trained to be a leader in the coming movement to save all of the most innocent lives. Your brother will grow to become a man who will protect you as you fight for the lives of the most innocent. He has a great assignment as well. It is written in a letter that is safeguarded by your uncle who will give it to him when he is old enough to understand.

“Why did you choose to do it this way?” Adira asked, trusting that her parents had given this much thought and prayer.

“We knew that when officials came they would have checked our family records,” her father explained. We will tell them that the baby was stillborn. If they ask about you, we will simply tell them that you were on an errand and would be back later. We have also made arrangements for what we will do if they want to check a gravesite for the body of a baby.”

Adira looked over at her mother, who was now crying profusely, in shock.

“What is the purpose of the locket?” she asked her father in awe.

“It is a reminder,” her father said, that you have a deep and burning love for life because your heart is full of compassion, especially for the most innocent. The prophet also said it contains special powers that only you will be able to pull from it when the time comes. You WILL bring down this evil system designed to destroy life at its very beginnings.”

He went on to finally add, “Your work will save nations, for what is the value of a nation if its soul is so corrupt that it allows ... even orders ... the killing of the most innocent?”

Her mother asked her quietly, “Will you accept the assignment?”

Adira knew that her parents had raised her to be strong and brave, and she trusted them completely. She also knew that the burning passion in her heart was greater than herself.

“Yes,” Adira replied as she looked directly at her parents and held out her hand to receive the heart-shaped locket. She WOULD save her baby brother and many others!

The End

*Inspired by Senator Katrina Jackson, who authored and passed through Congress the Love-Life Amendment in Louisiana