Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. -- James 1:27
"Jesus loves the little children...all the children of the world! Red and yellow, black and white. They are precious in His sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world!" Such a cute song from childhood, but oh, how I hate dating myself! But as songs and stories go, I don't mind showing my age to prove a point.
Keeping with the comical fashion of Sophia from "The Golden Girls" - Picture it. It's the 1960s. A little girl plays with her doll. Coddling, dressing, hugging, burping, tucking it in for a nap. The little girl envisions her dreams of motherhood as a mere stepping stone into maturity. But adulthood marches in quickly. The months come and go taking the now-young woman's hopes of motherhood captive. "I'm sorry Mrs. So-n-so but..." The "but" drifts off as tears flood her eyes. She is filled with anguish and disbelief. The questions bombard her, each starting with "Why?" But as the story goes, there is a happy ending. An ending that begins with a desire to please God in motherhood and a journey that carries this woman and her husband down the road towards adoption. She dreamt of being a mom. Now she's awakened to a deeper purpose.
My dear, sweet readers. I get excited over this time of year. Not because of the hustle and bustle of the upcoming holidays, but because someone out there decided to commemorate November as "National Adoption Month." Over the coming weeks, I hope to present stories awakened to a deeper purpose. Stories of a "pure and faultless religion" that pleases the heart of God. Stories of families embracing parenthood from a different vantage point.
When I grew up, I expected to give birth to 3-5 children. However, unforeseen circumstances squashed those expectations and nearly crushed my childhood dream. In my anguish, I remembered, "Jesus loves the little children." And then I remembered He loved my husband and I enough to honor the desires of our hearts. It's been eight years. Baby coddling, dressing and burping have been substituted with boyish laughter, silliness and more-than-occasional hugs from one "wild and crazy" blessing from God!
If you're interested in reading my recently-published article, Parenting from a Different Vantage Point, go to the Proverbs 31 Ministries website (scroll down to the article). Special prayers and blessings to such a phenomenal ministry and to their senior magazine editor (and fellow adoptive mom), Glynnis Whitwer, for giving me a forum in which to share my tapped passion for writing and my realized dream of motherhood.
I'll admit, adoption is not for everyone...directly, but in some manner, we all can play a role in "looking after the orphans." Whether sponsoring a child through an international children's fund, volunteering at a local adoption agency, becoming a court-appointed adoption advocate, providing temporary shelter as a foster parent, crafting much-needed items for overseas orphanages, whatever. Caring for God's children is one of the purest forms of religion for which He is greatly pleased. Until we meet again!
No comments:
Post a Comment