11/7/10

Orphan Sunday

La Mama Loca: Orphan Sunday: "Creation Groans from Christian Alliance for Orphans on Vimeo."

Today is a day to look at our kids and imagine that they lived a life with out us.
I imagine my son sitting alone on a grubby curb sniffing solvents to numb the piercing cold of the world around him.
I  imagine my daughter, a young girl without a voice, being used to satisfy the desires of a sick world.
Or my daughter taking on the responsibilities of a parent to her siblings at age nine.
I imagine my baby laying in a room lined with rusty cribs waiting for human touch.
My little boy scrounging the gutters like stray pup for a scrap of food.
 My children clinging to a worn out suitcase as they move into yet another strangers home.

Those are horrible pictures to  form in my mind.   They evoke strong emotion.

This is not the fate of my children.  They are fortunate to have 2 loving parents and a multitude of other people that are able to care for them.  They live in a country with safety nets and child protective services (as faulty as they often are.)  

The fact is, there are countless children , just as precious, just as worthy, just as silly, adorable and goofy out there that were born into the life I just described for you.   Why don't our hearts break for each one of them?  Somehow it's different when they are just pathetic faces on the tv or statistics on a page.

These children were left alone because of sickness, poverty, war, addictions, abandonment, abuse, or disaster.  They are children born into a broken world.

They long for love
They crave security
They ache to be wanted

Adoption is not the only answer to the crises our world faces.  It is one of many ways to 'defend the fatherless'.  It is one beautiful option.   I think so often people , myself included,  make a list of all the reasons why we are not able to adopt, why it wouldn't be wise, why we can't afford it and how we aren't "called" to something that drastic.  We assure ourselves that adoption is for other people.   That is sometimes true.    Not every body is in a position in life where they can or should adopt but we are all "called" to do SOMETHING.   Too many people 'don't feel called' because they have never allowed God control over that area of their heart.

My challenge to you today is to let your heart be broken...not in helpless despair.. but to join in the suffering of a child for just a moment.   Allow God to break your heart by the things that break His.  Allow Him to move you past your self preservation, human reasoning, fear, desire for control, and apathy.   That is both a frightening and freeing place to be taken.
Ask him today ,not if you are called to do something but how He desires you to show love to a child that needs love...and then listen with an open heart.   I don't say this to sound somehow self righteous or to lay on a guilt trip.   I say it as a challenge to move past apathy or shallow guilt appeasement to honest questioning.

Sometimes that answer is a longing that isn't brought to fulfillment for years.  Pray.  Anticipate. Grow. Wait.  Trust.





"To wait open-endedly is an enormously radical attitude toward life. So is to trust that something will happen to us that is far beyond our imaginings. So, too, is giving up control over our future and letting God define our life, trusting that God moulds us according to God's love and not according to our fear...The spiritual life is a life in which we wait, actively present to the moment, trusting that new things will happen to us, new things that are far beyond our own imagination, fantasy, or prediction. That, indeed, is a very radical stance toward life in a world preoccupied with control." ~Henri J. M. Nouwen

Here are a few organizations committed to helping children.  
Sponsor a child,  help support an adoption, open your home to foster care,  donate to an orphanage.  so many options.

ebenezerglennorphanage.org   (This is the orphanage  where my Haitian sister has been living since the earthquake.  My parents will be working in this community this winter as well)
ffhm.org (This is the orphanage in Baja that is close to my heart. Click on sponsorship to view children in three orphanages needing sponsors)
compassion.com   (sponsorship)
www.drawnfromwater.org (rescuing children from tribal infanticide.  You MUST watch the vimeo video on their home page!!)
showhope.org  (adoption assistance)
amazima.org  (a young woman who began a sponsership program as well as taking care of orphans  in her own home in Africa.)
147millionorphans.com  (2 moms raising awareness and support for orphans)
samaritanspurse.org  (humanitarian aid and community development)
worldvision.org  (humanitarian aid, sponsorship, community development)
reecesrainbow.org  (linking special needs orphans with open hearted families)




6 comments:

Chasity said...

Carla ~ Thanks SO much for your powerful words. Thanks for speaking up on behalf of His children. I am with you friend. My thoughts are much the same. In the midst of having my faith stretched...welcoming the stretching!

Shannon said...

Great post!

paul-and-lori said...

What a great post! Very powerful! Thank you for sharing form your heart!

MamaFoster said...

i am so glad your kids are HOME with you :)

that is such an amazing thing.

Anonymous said...

Wonderful post..I agree! Let my heart be broken by the things that break the heart of God..

Unknown said...

Great post -- would love to have you come check out www.wearegraftedin.com if you get a chance. Maybe you could consider contributing an article? :)
Kelly