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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