Although I have appreciated some humorous ones over the years, I’m generally not a fan of bumper stickers. That especially can be the case when a bumper sticker purports to represent a movement (e.g., “pro-choice” or “pro-life”), even a movement I consider noble and support.

Many bumper stickers, in my opinion, are a manifestation of the communication problem that impairs our polarized world today. We seem so entrenched in our respective social/political/religious positions that we frequently limit our discussion on important issues to the repetition of representative sound bites, which are a dreadfully deficient means of communicating.

Bumper stickers are often nothing more than sticky sound bites.

When I’m in a parking lot and the car parked in front of mine has a bumper sticker expressing an opinion at odds with something I hold dear, I never see that bumper sticker as an invitation to communicate about the issue; rather, I experience it as a barrier, a clear territorial claim.

I identify as “pro-life,” but I do so with anguish because of the division such labels risk causing. I do not have a “pro-life” bumper sticker on my car precisely because I don’t wish to close doors of communication.

I believe that listening with an open heart is genuinely holy.

If given the chance, I would explain that my “pro-life” position has everything to do with what I believe about you. Will you listen? If so, please read on.

I accept on faith that God is unchanging and has perfect foreknowledge. Therefore, I believe that you, blog reader, have been in the mind, heart, and plan of God for all eternity.

At the moment of your conception, God “spoke” you into existence. Thus, you are a “word of God” expressed purposefully as a unique blessing for the world. You embody the good and deliberate intention of the Creator. Your life is itself a message of hope to the world.

You have a dignity and worth that are greater – infinitely greater – than any movement, any cause.

Though you may feel invisible at times, God has always known your name, your face, your strengths and struggles, your favorite color, your most cherished moments, the things that move your heart, and the things that make you cry. God sees your loneliness and insecurities. God knows your vulnerabilities. God hears your voice raised in prayer. God sees your fist raised in anger and frustration… and understands.

You have always been, and will always be, God’s beloved. You are never completely alone.

You are neither an accident nor a mistake! In fact, you are God’s good and eternal idea.

Since you embody the holy and deliberate intention of the Creator, you are forever deserving of my love, my compassion, my respect, my understanding, my patience, and my protection… even when we disagree.

What I believe about you, I also believe about every child in the womb.

When that can fit on a bumper sticker, I’ll proudly display it.