Time flies. Really, it does. I think we have all had a busy summer, but now that we are settling back into old routines, we are making plans for P147. Just stick around, we'll be back soon and will start posting on a regular basis. Thanks!
~Natalia, Emma, Caitlin, Talia and Olivia
Emma Claire posted a link to this video in a previous post, and after watching it, I knew I had to post it on my personal blog. I have decided to repost it here. It is just so beautiful. I hope you will be as moved as I am every time I see it.
-Talia
The word "love" is thrown around today like yesterday's trash is thrown out. Boyfriends and girlfriends tell each other "I love you," only to break up the next month. We rave about how we "love" Owl City or "love" the Avengers or "love" vintage-style clothing. Singers and bands sing about love, love, love. (seriously, just listen to your radio for two minutes, and you'll probably hear something about "love") Google defines "love" as "an intense feeling of deep affection" or "Feel a deep romantic or sexual attachment to (someone)." Google uses words like "affection," "fondness," "darling," and "passion" to describe "love." But what is love really?
Love is a decision.
It's not a feeling. It's not affections, fondness, passion, or feeling romantic or sexual attraction to someone. John 15:13 says this: There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends. Love isn't affections or fondness. Note that the verse says "there is no greater love..." It doesn't say "there is no greater affection, fondness, or sexual attraction that to lay down one's life for one's friends." That's pathetic. Loving is not deeply enjoying a grilled cheese sandwich. Loving is going out of your way to help others, even if it's not "convenient" for yourself. Love is treating others the way you desire to be treated, even when you don't think they necessarily deserve it. Love is Matthew 5:44, which says: But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.
 |
| (via google images search) |
We are doing some updating to our main P147 website, so if you are looking for it and can't find it, it's down! We will be back up later this evening. Thanks!
Read more...Recently, I was looking on Etsy to see if I could find any items that people sell to raise money for their adoptions. I was surprised to find a lot of cute accessories (and other things.) Here are some for you to enjoy -- please think of purchasing one of these items because every single one of them will go toward an adoption!
There is a condition that is rapidly spreading in the world.
It's like a sickness, a disease...only worse.
So many people fall victim to it, it's sad. No, it's awful. It's heart-wrenching, heart-breaking...
It's depraved indifference.
We applaud celebrities, athletes, musicians...we put them on pedestals, admire them, and envy them. We wish we were like them.
We go to sleep in our cozy homes each night not worrying whether or not we'll wake up in the morning.
We feed (and often over-feed) our bellies with whatever pleases us. We complain if we don't like the taste of something.
We have many possessions, toys, gifts...and we just keep wanting more.
But there are people across the globe - children, even - that have nothing. No clothes, no food, no one to care for them. Could you imagine your life without someone to love you, without food and water in your belly, without somewhere besides the hard, dirty ground to sleep every night?
Sure, we know that there are people who have less than us. We care, even. But we have become indifferent to them and to that life. It's someone else's problem. Let someone else care for orphans, for the unloved, for the starving.
But what if we stopped being indifferent and started taking action? What if we DID SOMETHING about it? What if we stopped worrying about our hair and clothes while some children and adults worry if they will survive the night? What if we stopped complaining about our possessions when children in other countries have to sleep in trees because there are hyenas that will eat them if they don't?
Think of the person you love the most. Now, imagine that they were across the globe somewhere, starving, with no clothes and no one to love them. Would you leave them there, declaring that it was someone else's problem? No! You would try to get to them as fast as you could, and if you couldn't personally reach them and help them, you'd get someone to do it - you'd see to it personally that the one you loved the most was cared for, fed, loved.
But those starving, lost, hurting people across the globe are God's children. It breaks His heart to see them in such a state.
But we just sit around, doing nothing.
Do not become a victim to depraved indifference. DO SOMETHING.
Once
upon a time there was a wise man
who used to go to the ocean
to do his writing.
He had a habit of walking
on the beach
before he began his work.
One day he was walking along
the shore.
As he looked down the beach,
he saw a human
figure moving like a dancer.
He smiled to himself to think
of someone who would
dance to the day.
So he began to walk faster
to catch up.
As he got closer, he saw
that it was a young man
and the young man wasn't dancing,
but
instead he was reaching
down to the shore,
picking up something
and very gently throwing it
into the ocean.
As he got closer he called out,
"Good morning! What are you doing?"
The
young man paused,
looked up and replied,
"Throwing starfish in the ocean."
"I guess
I should have asked,
why are you throwing starfish in the
ocean?"
"The sun is up and the tide is going out.
And if I don't throw them in they'll
die."
"But, young man, don't you realize that
there are miles and miles of beach
and starfish all along it.
You can't possibly make a difference!"
The
young man listened politely.
Then bent down, picked up another
starfish
and threw it into the sea,
past the breaking waves and said-
"It made a difference for that one."
No matter what you do -- sponsor a child, adopt, give money towards an adoption -- it will make a difference to that one child. What if you were that child? We may casually think we can't make a difference by just helping one, but what if you were that child? You would never be adopted. You would live in an orphanage that could possibly never replace the comfort of a home. You might not have enough food to eat. You might grow up without ever feeling love. And if one person had reached out, your life could have completely changed. So even if you can't adopt, if you decide to give to an organization or an adoptive family, etc.; just remember. It made a difference to that one. | . |
