One Blessed Nest: On Love, Orphans & Towels (yes, towels) (Reposted from October 28, 2012)

Sunday, November 4, 2012

On Love, Orphans & Towels (yes, towels) (Reposted from October 28, 2012)

In honor of Orphan Sunday I am sharing what I consider to be one of my most important blog posts ever. On behalf of orphans everywhere, whose great longing is to belong. . .

I had a short conversation with my baby girl last night. It had such an impact on my heart that I'm not sure I can put it into words, but I'm going to try.

Teddi and I were sitting on the couch, snuggled up, getting ready to read bedtime stories. She turned away for a moment and picked up a bath towel from the end of the couch. It was her own towel, and she proceeded to spread it out over her lap . . .

and then she shared her precious

five-year-old-little-heart with me.

Teddi: "I love my towel, 'cause God gave me a family."

Me: (Sounding slightly puzzled) "What does your towel have to do with your family?"

Teddi: "It's soft."

Me: (Sadly putting two and two together) "You didn't have soft towels before you had a family?"

Teddi: "No, just little (towels) . . . and we had to share . . . and I got cold (as she "shivered") . . . and we didn't havejammies . . . we had to sleep in our clothes.

Me: (With a lump the size of Texas in my throat) "I'm so happy you have a family, and soft towels, and jammies."

That was that, for Teddi anyway, and life went on. We read stories and I tucked my babes in--yet all the while my heart cried for what was, and for what is --

Adopted:

Warm home.

Soft towels--

and someone to wrap you up in them,

forever.

Orphans:

Cold.

Sharing towels--

with no one to wrap them up,

and no jammies of their own.

The reality hurts my heart.

Teddi has soft towels now, but so very many don't.

Millions.

Millions of orphans have no idea what it feels like to be bathed in a warm bath. They have no idea what it feels like to be wrapped up in the love of a soft towel, or dressed in their very own pajamas.

Millions.

As Christians we are called, no, we are commanded to care for the widows and orphans.

"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

If it is our passion to live Jesus' way of life -- then it is our responsibility to look after orphans. Period.

It's overwhelming, but we must do something. We are not all called to adopt, but we are called to care in some way for the orphans of this world . . .

~ Support an orphanage.

~ Support one child.

~ Help someone else who is adopting. They need prayer. They most likely need financial assistance, and they desperately need to know that they have the love and support of those around them.

~ Pack a Christmas shoe box for an orphan, you just might change their world.

~ Buy gifts for a child or teenager in foster care, they need to know someone cares.

There are so many ways to make a difference. I know that I am "preaching to the choir" with most of my readers, but if this post inspires one person to move on behalf ofone orphan-- then we've made a difference.

Thank you for hearing my heart.

The rest of Ted . . .

When Teddi first came home she would go crazy (seriously, that is how I used to describe it) when I took her out of the bath tub. As I'd wrap her up she'd giggle, she'd wiggle, she'd squeal, she'd drop to the floor still squealing . . . I'd stand her up, she'd drop again . . . I'd stand her up . . . she'd drop again . . . you get the picture. Twenty-seven tiny pounds of giggle curled up in a quivering lump on the floor, covered by a soft yellow towel, and me attempting to scoop her up. I could barely contain her, and she surely could not contain herself!

After last night's conversation, and now looking back, I'm realizing that this was very likely her reaction to the "soft towel" and all it encompassed. After nearly three and a half years as an orphan, she was being wrapped up--