Right now, I should really be working on my English research paper. But alas, I simply cannot focus. Honestly, what has me so distracted is actually the topic of my paper. My paper is about adoption, and as I have poured over statistics and facts about orphans, my heart has grown heavier and heavier.
An estimated 143 - 210 million children in the world are orphans. This is no small number. What broke my heart even further was when I was on the website for an adoption agency reading through lists of names of children waiting to be adopted. Some of the listings had pictures, while others had little blurbs of information about the child waiting for a family. As I looked at listings of babies from China, included in the information for every single child was some sort of either physical deformity or mental disabilities, such as blindness or Down Syndrome.
Reading over those names, I was shattered by the fact that nobody wants those kids.
Nobody. That is the reason that they haven't been adopted. All of the healthy babies are quickly snatched up and adopted, while all of these other broken and beautiful children are abandoned to live a lonely life of shame, forgotten and forever unwanted.
My mind immediately went to Matthew 5 where Christ lists the Beatitudes. He made outrageous claims, such as "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven," and "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." During the few short years of Christ's ministry, he made a point of turning this world's caste system on its head. Instead of esteeming the rich and the powerful, Jesus made the poor and the broken the most valuable people in the world. He made them royalty rather than untouchable filth.
I find it so amazing that the very people that the world rejects are the people that Jesus wants the most. The two-year-old Chinese boy with a deformed left hand, the American little boy with fetal alcohol syndrome, and the Latin American baby girl with a cleft lip and mental retardation are the true treasures in Christ's eyes. The last are first, and the first are last. These little kids, because of the ailments that they face, are infinitely more important than I am. They are first in the kingdom of heaven. I have been given the richly affluent lifestyle that I was born into simply so that I can spend my time, my energy, and my money to serve them. This realization is humbling and utterly beautiful.
Jesus really does love the little children. I want to join in the Savior's love. After all, "if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us." (1 John 4:17)
