Ding, ding, ding... i hear our living room clock chime and i look up. i must be home again. here i am, back in the States. ten days ago seems like a dream. was i really in china? those memories are so close to my heart and yet so far from me physically. each of the four weeks of summer camp were amazing. playing with the orphans, dancing with them, hugging them, buying them ice cream and soda, swimming with them, watching them smile and laugh, watching them be real children and not have to be adults... what a blessing. i loved seeing innocents and joy soften their hearts and shine through their eyes and smiles.
i remember when one little one was brought to me with a temperature. i gave him some fever reducers and had him rest. i saw him lying on the couch all by himself a while later, so i went over and placed his little head on my lap. i ran my fingers through his hair and he closed his eyes to get sleep. i just started tearing up. this little one doesn't have a mom to do this for him when he is sick. none of them do. i wish so badly that each time he was sick i could hold him and give him comfort. how can we just let them keep being alone? why do little children have to be so grown up? when i am sick i still want my mom to know and to be there, but imagine if you never even knew what it was like to have that comfort. don't you want them to have someone? i do.
there were so many moments like that, when you wish you could just stay forever. you wish they didn't have to go back to the orphanage. you wish you could give them so much more than you have given.
"...as you have done it un to the least of these, you have done it unto Me..." this verse echoed through my mind all summer. how could these beautiful angles be the least of these? i love them so much, how can the world regard them as worth so little? i love the least of these.
but now i am home. how do i love the least of these that are in front of me here? it is so easy when they are so clearly defined and labeled, but here i feel like no one is "the least". i feel like everyone i see has more than those i got to love in china. how do i transfer that love to america? Lord help me because i do not know.
so here i am, the clock is ticking and another day is about to dawn... time to love the least of these today, or at least who ever the Lord puts in my path. help me to love them today Lord. increase my love so that i can love those you put in my life here and also continue to love each child that i held this summer. i don't know how to do this, but You do.
i remember when one little one was brought to me with a temperature. i gave him some fever reducers and had him rest. i saw him lying on the couch all by himself a while later, so i went over and placed his little head on my lap. i ran my fingers through his hair and he closed his eyes to get sleep. i just started tearing up. this little one doesn't have a mom to do this for him when he is sick. none of them do. i wish so badly that each time he was sick i could hold him and give him comfort. how can we just let them keep being alone? why do little children have to be so grown up? when i am sick i still want my mom to know and to be there, but imagine if you never even knew what it was like to have that comfort. don't you want them to have someone? i do.
there were so many moments like that, when you wish you could just stay forever. you wish they didn't have to go back to the orphanage. you wish you could give them so much more than you have given.
"...as you have done it un to the least of these, you have done it unto Me..." this verse echoed through my mind all summer. how could these beautiful angles be the least of these? i love them so much, how can the world regard them as worth so little? i love the least of these.
but now i am home. how do i love the least of these that are in front of me here? it is so easy when they are so clearly defined and labeled, but here i feel like no one is "the least". i feel like everyone i see has more than those i got to love in china. how do i transfer that love to america? Lord help me because i do not know.
so here i am, the clock is ticking and another day is about to dawn... time to love the least of these today, or at least who ever the Lord puts in my path. help me to love them today Lord. increase my love so that i can love those you put in my life here and also continue to love each child that i held this summer. i don't know how to do this, but You do.
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