I saw my son...

Sara Groves sings a song entitled, "I saw what I saw" about a recent trip to Rwanda, and the music video plays footage of her trip as the song plays. At one point, she sings a line, "Something on the road, cut me to the soul," and soon the words "I saw my son in a little boy's eyes" are printed on the screen as we see her talk with one of the Rwandan boys.

Lately, I've been reading and thinking about children who live in situations of neglect and abuse both here and abroad, starting with orphans in Russia, and I think Groves' sentiment is the clearest descriptor of how I am affected by what I read and hear. I am "cut to the soul," in Groves' words, for it is as if I see my son in these tender children.

I have spent several weeks attempting to blog on the topic of Russian orphanages, and I find I am virtually unable to do it. The concept of being orphaned - of having no one delighting in your every smile, no one affirming to you your intrinsic worth -these things I find deeply, deeply grieving. Unfortunately, many orphans in Russia live in this reality, where they are not just orphaned from their birth parents, but in many cases, from enriching, satisfying human contact in general. Russia does have a few foster homes set up to provide children with family environments, but the stipends are so small as to be worthless, and there is no support to speak of for these families, from what I have read (for more information, see this article).

Most orphaned children in Russia do not live in a family care setting; they live out their childbood in institutional settings in which attachment to caregivers is not promoted or may be actively discouraged. Often this is the product of systemic problems in Russia, like underfunding for orphanages, working in tandem with an outdated understanding of child development in which the importance of emotional nurturance is undervalued or competely unrecognized. At the root of the orphan issues there are vast, entrenched social problems, such as high unemployment rates and widespread poverty that result in an environment where 95% of orphans actually have living parents but have been given up to an insitution providing minimally or sub-sufficient standards of care. Most will never be adopted.

I am eager for the church to engage children around the world who are hungry for love, hungry for someone to meet their needs and affirm their value. "Father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling" (Psalm 68:5). We are to be imitators of God, according to Ephesians 5, and God is a father to the fatherless. This is our calling as the body of Christ, as the fullness of him who fills everything in every way (Eph 2).

I hope that you will be praying for the countless children around the world who have unmet emotional or physical needs, that the Lord God will care for them as he does the sparrows, providing their needs daily. Specifically, we can pray that the Lord moves in the hearts and minds of those influencing adoption systems and laws so that children can be quickly (and still safely) adopted by those desiring to parent them.

Other ways to fulfill the calling to be father to the fatherless, I believe, is to become attuned to statements of need from children in your neighborhood, church, your children's friends, or organizations that meet the needs of children. Simple statements of affirmation, recognizing their worth or talents or creativity can be very, very meaningful. Children in your neighborhood may be greatly blessed to have in you a friend with an open door, and as you grow in friendship, you will likely also grow in awareness of what, specifically, would bless that individual child. Or, consider adoption or supporting families who are interested in adoption - financially, as a trustworthy babysitter on occasion, or by simply asking someone you know who is in the process of adopting how you can help.

Finally, you might want to sign up to support a child through World Vision. Monthly payments provide a child with access to education, medical care, food, and in some cases, assistance for the family that may enable them to become more stable and able to provide for the children. World Vision also has links and magazines that enable you to select an option for how you would like to assist a family (for example, buying them chickens so they can sell the eggs). Anything that supports families, supports children.