Orphan - The Unfair Name

Orphan.  A child, abandoned, with no one or place to call home.  Just one of 147 million.  Like a mass, they are looked upon as a charity.  "Give to the orphan!"  "Save the orphan!"  But never, "Adopt the orphan!"  We will give our money, but not our lives.  We will sacrifice money, but not our schedules, our plans.  It's unfair - this way most of the world treats orphans.

Someone once said, when told he looked old and worn out, that aged and tired was the way he was supposed to look if he was giving his all for and to God.  I ask you this: are you willing to look old and fatigued for God?  When you care for orphans, that is how you will look and feel.  Adoption or care-giving is certainly not rainbows and cherry pie.  It's dirt and bitterness and pain.  It's hard and it hurts.

But what it we thought like this instead: Is it that difficult to lose your sleep and beauty and plans for a child who has lost him mommy and daddy and home and joy and culture?  Many international adoptions deal with children who have lost those things.

When I wrote a post on my other blog a few months ago with the same title, some people said calling "orphan" an unfair name was wrong.  They said that God planned for them to be orphans, so that is what they are.  That's true.  However, with Easter just around the corner, we are able to celebrate that we have been adopted by a merciful, ever patient, loving God.  We are no longer orphans.  We are overjoyed and thankful that we have been adopted and that we have a Father.

Is it fair, then, that these children should be called orphans?  They need a father and mother as much as they need a Heavenly Father.  Maybe we can't all adopt, but we can pray and we can inform. That is one of our goals with this website and blog - to inform, to educate, to encourage.  The word orphan needs a new definition, in my opinion.  Orphan does not mean charity.  It means opportunity, it means hope, it means a child in desperate need of love, waiting, waiting, ever waiting, for someone to love them.  They're are not to be looked down upon, but they are in need of a name change.  From orphan to adopted...just as we once were orphans but have been adopted by our Father.

Olivia