Love Makes A Family

Renee Aste (why aren't you following her on Twitter?) linked to this news story recently.

In the picture Shanesha Taylor is staring straight into the camera with tears streaming down her cheeks. It’s her mug shot, taken after the Arizona single mother was arrested for leaving her children in a locked car with the windows slightly cracked.

Horrible as that sounds it’s only part of the story. As Shanesha explained to the arresting officer she had no one to watch her kids while she interviewed for a job. The 35-year-old mother is homeless; she risked leaving her children for a short time for the chance to get work.

Shanesha and her two children were living in her car. How horrible! One or more of the following things must happen immediately:

1. Shanesha should be thrown in jail.
2. Shanesha should be released and given shelter.
3. The State needs to pay for free day care for all.
4. Shanesha's kids should become wards of the foster parent system.
5. Shanesha needs parenting classes.
6. (fill in the blank here)

What's the big deal? We're taught that "love makes a family." Wasn't this love every step of the way? Didn't Shanesha love the father of her children? Didn't Shanesha love her children? Wasn't Shanesha doing the best she possibly could? Seriously, I would bet that the answer to all those questions is a resounding "Yes!"

Here's something that will not be recommended from this news story:

1. We all need to honor the Biblical injunctions on marriage and sex.

Shanesha did what almost all Americans do and then her life went very, very wrong. Until it did, she was following modern, secular morality. Shanesha didn't know it would turn out this way, otherwise she never would have done it. The same goes for all of us. Those of us who get away with it were examples to Shanesha. She saw us do it, so she did it, too.

If love makes a family, then how did Shanesha go wrong when every step was based on love?

Here, the porcupine social worker is placing the children into custody as the bird mom bids them a tearful farewell. Love wins again!

If there is a God and he loves us, wouldn't he give us rules for life that led us away from fates like Shanesha's? Looking at it from the Shanesha angle, defining adultery as a sin is an act of love.

Addendum: Shanesha is a hero in my book. There aren't words to describe my admiration for her.