Judith Anne: “But truthfully, you are an exceptional mother, and your child is very blessed to have you.”
If you mean exceptional in that she didn’t expect other people to pay for her mistake, I agree. If you mean exceptional in that she’s a single mother, not so much. Single mothers aren’t so much the exception these days as the rule.
Everyone makes mistakes. Everyone sins. The key distinction is admitting we all have a sinful nature that leads us to do things that are evil, repenting of past mistakes, and doing our very best to avoid repeating them.
I know it’s not popular to say this, but having sex outside of marriage is wrong. One may be able to somewhat mitigate the harmful effects of fornication, but that doesn’t change the reality that children should be created in loving, committed (married) relationships.
The rich, having more resources, are generally able to mitigate the results of their sins better than the poor, but have no doubt there’s always a price to pay for unrepentant sin. The child pays, the mother pays, the father pays, society pays, etc. Having children out of wedlock is a mistake that can have decades of negative repercussions in this world and an eternity of repercussions in the next.
Let’s not make a single mother out to be more heroic than she really is. What’s REALLY heroic is trying to live a pure life and do the right thing in a fallen society.
I’ve been a married woman for more than 10 years now with 3 more children added to the fold. As a converted Catholic, since my sins of my teenaged years have been forgiven by my Father, than I really don’t understand why I shouldn’t be proud of the decisions I have made since. When it comes down to it, that’s all that matters to me. Human beings can feel free to pass judgement on me all they want. I will continue to live my life with my Lord as my guideline.