The Face Of An Orphan
The first picture is of Orphan ‘little Rose’. The first time I met her, she was just a baby. That was at least seven years ago. The last time I saw her (three years ago), she was still living in the hospital. Who will adopt her?
The next picture is of an Orphan ’Babe’. Those are my fingers holding his. What you can’t hear is me singing “Jesus Loves You” to him. Who will adopt him?
The next picture is of an Orphan ‘Babe’ that had just had surgery. See the tube coming out of his head. I don’t know if he survived to be adopted!
The next picture is of Orphan ‘R’. My daughter says, “the day we met ‘R’, she BEGGED for someone to take her! She tried to run out the door of the orphanage to us. They stopped her, but we could still hear her crying!” Tell me, who will adopt her?
The last picture is of a little Orphan girl named ‘Selam’ and a little Orphan boy named ‘Altasa’. I know who adopted them. These are my Grand-children.
What I want us to do, is look at their faces. What do we see? I see the eyes of abandonment. To abandon means:”to give up with the intent of never again claiming a right or interest in that which was abandoned” (Merriam-Webster online dictionary). I can only imagine the feelings of my daughter as she watched little ‘R’ trying to run out to them, crying, needing for someone to take and love her. When you look into the eyes of a baby that has been abandoned, you see this haunting, wanting stare of the need for a parent to love them. It is called ‘abandonment syndrome’. What flippant words, for the need for love. The words do not do the meaning for “the need for love” justice.
God never abandons us. We need only look past ourselves. He is a God of the fatherless in whom we find mercy. Though sometimes our lives are sorrowful, we are never comfortless, because we are never orphans with God. The King James uses the word ‘comfortless’ (orphanos in the Greek) and it does mean bereaved or fatherless. God’s love is never far away. If you read John 14:15-31, you will understand that Jesus promised the Holy Spirit to us, who is our comforter. The Holy Spirit’s living presence in our lives, is a daily reminder of God’s love for us.
Be assured, as we learn in the book of Hosea, that God is long-suffering and forgiving. He will ‘never give us up with the intent of never again claiming His right or Interest in us’.
Sometimes, when I look into the eyes of ‘Selam and ‘Altasa (we call him AJ), I can still see that fear of abandonment, that haunting, wanting stare of the need for a parent to love them and who will not give them up. I look forward to the day when they will feel loved in this way. I know in my heart that God will comfort them now, and until that day.
Quote to Ponder: “God loves each of us as if there were only one of us” Saint Augustine
This entry was posted on Saturday, December 5th, 2009 at 2:40 am and is filed under Bible Studies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
