waiting children

they are the ones we turn away from
or stare at in the store
imperfect
defective
disabled and more

waiting to be loved
by someone forever
waiting for parents
who won't leave them ever

so many
with problems
with so many needs


why is it
that we turn our faces away
hope someone else
will love them someday

is adoption then only
for our selfish reasons

would we only choose a child
expected to be "normal"
who would not be
an inconvenience
would not be
one of the weird ones
the needy, the helpless,
dependent ones

yet if God had them
be born to us
we would love them
we would care for them
we would do our best for them
no matter what


who will love them?
who will take the thousands
of waiting children
many of them undesired -
teenagers, "too old, too hard" -
they wish for families too...
babies, born with special needs
might never walk or talk with you...


what then does it mean
to care for the orphan
if we turn away
from the neediest

what does it mean
to show God's love
if we are not willing
to love them

for we are imperfect
defective
disabled by sin
yet the Father
with costly love
took us in

we were more
than an inconvenience to Him

we've been adopted
without being desirable
without being normal

yet He is not embarrassed
to call us His children
not ashamed to claim us as His own
through unconditional love

O God
make us like You
show us ourselves
give us hearts to love
the unlovely
to the glory of God


http://www.togetherforadoption.org/?p=10545

http://www.adoptuskids.org/Child/ChildSearch.aspx (and do a search for age 6 as the oldest age).