This weekend I was at the Borrowdale Country Fair, a traditional event which had not been held for quite some time. It was an honour to have a stall there. The day was lovely, there were lots of amazing stalls and I got to see a lot of families, couples, cutie pies and the overall experience was just heart warming.
Something that took my interest in light of the just ended Mother’s Day was a couple of ladies (white) who had brought some other kids (as in black kids who are clearly not theirs) to the fair with them. I wasn’t sure what the arrangement was or if there even was one but I saw these kids being loved, nurtured and included in the day’s happenings along with these ladies’ biological children.
Not having any kids of my own I asked myself if I could take a day out of my own life to foster a stranger’s child. The answer surprised me because until this point my only concern has been about meeting the right person and getting started on a family ASAP before we have to faith it to make it happen.
Side note: Having children late in life is possible but it is the exception and not the rule, we should be wise to remember that. The God who can open a closed womb is also the God who laid out the biological timeframes which affect us, so though he can circumvent them it’s not an excuse for us to be careless and waste opportunities because we are too fussy or think too highly of ourselves to settle down with the men who actually are interested.
It’s very rare that those of us who get too far on in years do so because no one has ever asked, I think men ask but we get caught up on thinking that we can do better or there has to be someone more perfect than the one asking. As much as we may claim to wait on God’s timing sometimes we make the wrong choices because we don’t actually apply God’s guidance to our choices and then we have to deal with the consequences of lost time.
One thing I’ve learnt the hard way is that God doesn’t impose His goodness on us. Until we stand in agreement with Him over how He loves and wants to bless us we will continue to see him as the perpetrator of our misery and misery sure loves company.
I have never really applied myself to contributing in some way to assist with the fact that there are millions of children out there with no one to love them as a mother would. I absolutely love babies and they love me but this has always been restricted to the people I know or have come across at work.
At this point I wondered about adopting a child and cringed at the comments that would come out about it, because I mean let’s face it in many of our families it’s just not an option. If it was there would be fewer of these little ones needing that love and care.
I also wondered what the point was of seeing things the way I do or believing the way I do and the answer waiting for me at the end of it was that I am part of a body and perhaps my purpose is to be the part I was made to be in this body by contributing where my strengths and passions lie.
God has a special place in His heart for those of us who are broken and an even more special set of resources which allow Him to minister to us. The question is do we acknowledge ourselves as these resources? Or are we too busy joining committees and celebrating how much better my Papa is than yours to actually add value where it is most needed.
Please understand I am not blasting those who take time to appreciate their leaders I’m just pointing out that it can fast become a distraction from the real purpose of the congregation which is to reach out to the lost and minister for the sake of the kingdom.
Sometimes I wonder if we were saved so that we could wear the badge to show off to those who don’t know that they can be saved or we were saved so we could call others to be saved also. When we are out there mixing and mingling, running our businesses, starting our families are we thinking about the reality that some of the people we are so close to are not going to join us when we go home because they haven’t made the life saving choice.
Now before you get me wrong here I’m not talking about forcing the gospel down their throats but I’m talking about the gospel burning so fiercely within us that it spreads all around in the way we talk, the way we treat each other and the choices we make daily. The choice to be saved doesn’t come from knowing that it’s an option, the choice comes from the impact we see it make in other people and the desire to be impacted that same way.
Dear God, my prayer is for mothers today, help us to know and understand the value you have placed in us, help us to discern where we are needed and guide us there to make the impact that saves lives. Thank you for giving us an example in our biological mothers and thank for the mothers you have placed in our lives who may not have been biological but who understood your love and chose to share it with us anyway. Reach into our hearts and fill them as only you can with contagious wildfire for the growth of the kingdom…Amen
