Thirsting for Justice

I wrote this one on 25 April 2013.  I had to put it in draft because I didn't know what else to say.  I decided that I couldn't say any more.  Here are my thoughts from that day.

I must admit that I have shed tears over the last two or three weeks whenever I think of the children who are abandoned, neglected, abused, left as orphans. 

We're told to look after the widow and the orphan (James 1:27) and to keep ourselves from being polluted by the world in the process.

I suppose we could become corrupted and skewed in this work of looking after the widow and the orphan.  It is not a work for the faint hearted.  It is difficult work and hard work.  It takes dedication and commitment.  It takes your energy and your time along with your money and your possessions. 

In the process you learn a little about self sacrifice; about sharing; about what is important; about what really counts to make it all worth it.

I think the thing for me is that to love and to be loved are indeed the greatest things I will experience while I live here on earth.  We get one kick at the can and it's got to be a good kick; a good dose of loving and of being loved.

My heart has ached when I see the pictures and get an impression of the circumstances of the children and youth.

I saw quite by accident and quite randomly today a video of a documentary about the Children of Leningradsky - Part 1/3 HQ who live at the train station in Moscow.  I cried again.

Children of Leningradsky - Part 1/3 HQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfXyMLUshX4

I can not believe a community of people would allow this neglect and abuse to be so rampant in their very midst.  I shook my head and cried at the thought of the way these children survive in a world that ignores them and hates them for being who they are.  Yet they are who they are because of their community, their nation.  I hung my head and cried.


 

Windy Wednesday

A beautiful day!

Sunny!

Bright!


A day worth living!

Corn is beginning to push itself out of the ground.

The animals are being born and enjoying new life.

Flowers are in bloom.

Life goes on.

Yet, on this beautiful day, here in my secure place in my country, I think about the children and youth who struggle to live.  They struggle to survive within oppressive systems that see them as disposable and less than human.

I sit here. Words nearly escape me when I think of the countless faces I have seen. 

Oppressive systems that adults continue to maintain that take away their youth.  Children and youth are dying in these institutions.  I wonder how long is it going to continue.  How long are the people of the world going to abuse their life blood.  How long is it going to take before they realize that children are our hope and our sustenance. 

All children are precious!!  When are we going to see that we have much to learn from them.  When are the adults of the world going to figure out that everyone is indeed a gem worthy of love and care and all those things that make us fully human, fully loved.

Children need love.  Young people need love.  They need people who care about them and who want them to be happy, healthy and loved.

On this bright, beautiful, sunny Canadian spring day, I look at the beauty and I see all those faces of all of those children who in the beauty of our world look for their own beauty.  They yearn for their own fulfillment.  They hope for their own springtime so that they, too, can grow and blossom from the love they receive.

We need to tend to them as gardeners and farmers tend to their flowers and vegetables, with love, patience and perseverance.

When we treat all of our children with a sense of justice and love, then we as a community and we as a nation of people will reap the rewards of caring for the least of these, our people.

We will know how great we are when we look into the faces of the children and youth we care for and whom we actively love into their full potential.

http://tosavea-life.blogspot.ca/2013/05/dear-della.html

www.reecesrainbow.com

www.mayashope.org

www.chalice.ca/

and many, many others who work on behalf of children in need.

Let's take the time to love our children.  To really show our children how much they truly are worth.  For they truly are the priceless gems in our gardens. 





 

Dandelions and Daily Living

 

 

Life sometimes feels like it is unchanging.  Yet, all around me is life - new life.  The trees are leafing up.  The flowers and vegetables are beginning to come up through the ground.

 

And, yes, the dandelions are back!

Our lawn was full of them today.

 

How I love them!

 

They're bright.

 

 

They're yellow.

 

They're beautiful.

 

 

 

 

I just love them.

 

 

 

And, our resident Ms Sophie the cat enjoyed the outdoors, too.

 

It was almost like she was posing for me as I clicked away on the camera.

 

Life - always changing.

 

Always open for hope.

 

It is hope that I have  today for the children and youth living in orphanages around the world.

 

Hope that their countries will realize their full value and will take the steps to ensure their safety and security and good health.

 

Hope that they will be loved by parents and siblings.

 

Hope that it will all work out for them.

 

Hope that it will begin right now wherever they are and that their situations will improve right now. And that they will know real love and concern. And that they will be able to own it.  Own the hope.   Own the love.  Own the belonging that family provides.

 

Hope in today's changing world.

 

I think the dandelions brought it to me this day.

Friday Frolics

What a week!  What a day!  Rain or no rain! Damp or dry! It switched between the two all week.  But I managed to walk each and every day as I have for the last several months.

 

I have to tell you.  I think I saw Gawd.

 

Yes.  I said Gawd (I prefer to spell it this way, thank you.)

 

I've been doing a couple of fundraisers for two organizations close to my heart.  One involves selling items on a virtual yard sale website. 

 

I had a lady come to pick up her $5 round Toy Story themed chair.  It's a great little chair for preschoolers and toddlers.  My own girl, though, hardly ever sat in it in the three years she owned it.  She got too tall and lanky for it.  But she loved it because of Buzz and Woody and all their friends.

 

 

 

The lady picks it up. We chat for 20 seconds and she said, "Here, I want you to take this $10."

 

I said, "I don't feel comfortable taking more than what I asked for it."

 

She proceeded to tell me that she appreciated the fact that I had this chair and was selling it to her.  She had looked for it as a gift to her son but to no avail.

 

I said okay then even though I hesitated.  I didn't want to take money from her that I didn't feel that I had earned.

 

Without hesitation, she gave me a hug and left.

 

I thought, "Wow! from a perfect stranger indeed!"

 

I thought about it since it happened in the early afternoon, and for sure I saw the face of Gawd in this woman.

 

And this reminded me in the last few minutes that every time my own child says to me, "Mom Kist me." And I do.  I kiss the sweet cheek and sometimes the other.  I'm experiencing Gawd again.

 

Gawd delights me.  Gawd makes me happy.  Gawd knows how to make me feel good inside.

 

So thank you to this stranger who really isn't a stranger anymore, and to my precious little child for allowing me to see the face of Gawd in them this very day.

 

Hallelujah! and Amen!!!  I love how Gawd communicates with me.

 

Happy Victoria Day weekend to you all.  I hope Gawd reveals herself to you in a most gentle, loving, amusing way.

 

 

Just Say YES!!! to Brett!!!

Today's Monday.

It's sunny and breezy warm.  A great day to be in the garden.

We - and I say that somewhat lightly as I am the one doing all the manual labour - plan to grow sunflowers, and I have also been transplanting lupines along the fence.  The fence is 78 feet long and it has full sun light all day.  I look forward to the transformation!!!  I look forward to the results of my hard work.

When I started this project late last week.  I worked on the part you see in the picture. I got about 10 feet done. 

In the end I stopped because I couldn't hold back the tears as I thought about all the children who are in orphanages and mental institutions because of special needs or because they were not wanted by their parents.

I cried so much I had to leave the gardening for another day.  I did  go back to it on another day, and again as I turned and twisted the earth to get the weeds and the grass out, I thought about the children. 

The hundreds of thousands, the millions - I can barely imagine that number.  It astounds me.  It frightens me - who are left abandoned in these institutions mostly because of some disability; namely because of Down Syndrome.

I want to tell you about a young man.  He's 11 years old and he was abandoned by his mom on the very day he was born on 23 August 2001.  He was left in a field to die.  He laid there for hours before he was found by someone who rescued him.  By that time, he was covered in bug bites, hypothermic , unresponsive, and in shock. He had a very tough start to life and he survived.

At the age of three, however, he was placed in an adult mental institution.  Think about it.  From a baby orphanage to an adult mental institution at the age of three!!!

He lives there every day, 24 hours a day seven days a week 52 weeks a year because he has no one who has stepped up to say, "I'll take him and make him my son."

The child needs a family.  He needs a mom and a dad, sisters and brothers who love him and the whole gamete of aunts and uncles, cousins and grandparents who will show him what it is to BE LOVED.  Then, I know he will love you back in return.  So unconditionally.  So purely.  So freely.

He wants and needs a family.

Here he is.  His profile name is Brett.  He is from eastern Europe and lives in difficult circumstances where he receives no formal education, no mama's hugs and kisses, no father's warmth or concern with just barely enough to eat and where he owns absolutely nothing.

This is a recent picture of Brett. He also has alopecia, which is why he lost his hair. But it is treatable.  My own child has it.  It is more common in people with Down Syndrome than with others.  Stress sometimes brings it on. I look forward to when his hair grows back.




This a picture of Brett when he was younger. 



He is ready for the experience of a lifetime.  He is ready for a real family who will show him what it means to be part of something wonderful, something beautiful, something brighter than what he has now.

He looks for you to come for him.

Know that you will not be alone in the costs associated with getting him home.  People will encourage you by helping you with your fundraising.  People will be praying for you and for him.  People will be silently cheering you on as you take this step of faith to become his parent(s), his family.  People will shout from the skies when you say YES! to Brett.

Give him careful, heartfelt consideration.  He's worth every ounce of energy and cost you will incur.  You will have something extraordinary in your life for the rest of your life when you say Yes to Brett. 

You want to know God, get to know Brett.  Then you will be able to say that you've met God.  For he is made in the beautiful, perfect image of God.  He waits for you.  Go get him.  You will never regret the decision.


Just say YES to Brett!!!

Here's another blog about Brett.  A lot of people care about him and think about him, maybe even when they do their gardening, too.

http://crazy-arewethereyet.blogspot.ca/2013/05/nobodys-child.html