I was watching a TV show online last night when a 30-second commercial came out of nowhere and punched me in the gut.

A little, diaper-clad baby with beautiful, bare skin was laughing and giggling with delight as she lay on her back playing with her feet.  A deep voice began to narrate, “You will have your child for the rest of your life, but…”

Ugh!  I didn’t hear another word.  Disarmed and tender, I impulsively shouted at the screen, “Presumptive Reality!!”

Then I sat in silence, unaware of what product was being touted on the screen, just disturbed by the premise.

For most people in the United States, that presumptive reality will prove true… they will have their children for the rest of their lives.  But I also know dozens and dozens of parents who do not or will not have that privilege.

I presumed I would always have Judson.  I don’t.

I don’t still have Jud because we live in a fallen world.  Parents don’t always get to enjoy their children for the rest of their lives.  Across the globe moms and dads are outliving their kids, and in certain countries it is devastatingly common.  This is the true reality.  Troubles and suffering abound–in multiple ways.

Yet ironically, because of a Son that died, even as his mother wept nearby, we can have hope in this broken world.  We can take heart that the wrongs will be made right…

And that’s not a presumptive reality!

 Author: Christina