Saturday, August 15, 2009

see no evil.......see no good

Imagine with me for a moment if you will. You are a newborn baby. You have just entered the world, and all you knew of life up to this point was the comfort of your mothers body, familiarity of smells and sounds, no hunger, no tiredness, no longing for affection... all your needs are taken care of instantly. But all this is about to change.

You see, you were born blind into a culture where this is not acceptable. Your mother must reject you as she has not been taught any different. She might have held you close, and cried over the loss of her dreams of the "perfect" child. She might have held you and cried for you, knowing the pain you will face, but praying that there will be a way for you to get a life better than what she could give you. She kisses your cheek, her tears fall onto your precious little body. Then you are taken from her.

You are taken to an orphanage where there are many more babies. Some w/o limbs, some w/o vision or hearing, some w/o the ability for much movement on their own, some that seem "perfect". But not a one will thrive, not even the "perfect" ones. There is not enough money for food, or toys, or medicine, or surgeries. There are not enough arms to hold the lonely, the scared, the hungry, the least of these...

And the sad truth is you will be one of the sadder cases in the log books. You can't see, so even while most of these little ones are ignored their world is not one of darkness. What you gain in your sensory world will be gained by hearing alone, the very occassional impersonal touch as the care giver swoops out of know where to transfer you to a bath, or stick a bottle in your mouth, or change you diaper. Few words will be uttered. Your world consists of surprise appearance by someone, and just as quickly surprise absences. There is no consistency, nothing you can depend on, nothing that makes any sense. You lay there day after day in the eerie silence so often present in the orphanages of Eastern Europe.

And you become used to being alone, used to a world that offers you nothing good, that being left alone is your best chance for survival. And you rock to comfort yourself, and you cry longing for something more, and you sit and wait for a mommy and daddy that never come. And you survive ready to give all you have to the one willing to take a chance, willing to bet it all on you, willing to say "YES LORD, SEND ME!!!"

Who are you? You are DIMITRY... You are almost 4 years old. You have forgotten what a loving touch feels like, if you ever even knew. You are one of the forgotten, the least of these, the one the world considers of no consequence, no purpose.

You do not know how loved you are. That your Father is the King of Kings! That you have a purpose! Oh how I pray that your mama is out there.... And if she is reading this I pray she emails Andrea @ bamaroberts@comcast.net

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6 comments:

  1. Oh friend--TRUSTING someone will rescue him. Isn't he one of 4?

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  2. 4 blind or 4 that have been listed a long time? I think he matches either category...

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  3. How beautifully and thought provokingly written. (you always do that, write so well that it's like a good story book :) So many of these children weigh on my heart so heavily. After being at the orphanage and seeing where my Isaac comes from, what he's lacked for so long...my heart will never again be at peace. I now get why some families just keep on adopting....If I had the means, I'd bring them all home and wish I had a pair of arms for each of them :( Thank you for such compassion shared. Praying for Dimitry's family to hear the Lord's call and to have no fear.

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  4. Thank you. :) Part of me is dreading my turn of going to the orphanages where my girls are. I know there will be a part of my heart left there that I will never get back!

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  5. ok, so I am totally bawling now! Jeremiah has what they are calling Visual Dysfunction in addition to his severe cp and at this point have no way of knowing if he sees at all or how much, so I so ached for him as I read this. Praying for this little angel too!! Praying mama comes soon! Would you mind if I took this and reworded it just a bit to fit orphans everywhere and not just Europe and then sent it out to spark folks to pray for them and to pray about being a mom to orphans?

    hugs
    Tami

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  6. Tami, do whatever you need to with it! :) I didn't know Jeremiah has vision issues! What a little trooper! He always looks so happy in his photos, I can't wait till you can bring him home!

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