Today was my Anna Grace's first day of Kindergarten. Mercy. After dropping her off (and holding back the tears), I got a lot done this morning as I was finally on my own with the day off of work. I love my kiddos but the summer was loooooong. I spent most of the morning talking to businesses about our event in November. Can someone please remind me why I was ever in outside sales? Seriously... Yuck! Our house had plenty of laundry and dishes waiting for me but I decided to put that off. I decided instead to mow the lawn and weed our front beds.
Disclaimer: I am by NO means a tree hugger but I'm just warning... I'm about to weird out on y'all.
God wooed me today as I completed the simple task of working in the yard. It was hot and hard. There were earthworms and bugs and even a snake (dead because my kids played with it yesterday until it died... but a snake nonetheless). I loved every minute of it... the sun on my skin, the sweat dripping down, the smell of grass, the soil under my finger nails, the buzzing of the honey bees all around me, the worms and bugs, and especially the cold glass of lemonade that my sweet neighbor walked over. I love God's creation and He so beautifully shared it with me today.
The fact that God revealed so much of His beautiful world to me today reminded me that I just don't do it enough. I pass by every day in my rush to get to work, cook dinner, or whatever else the day holds. It's easy to forget how special the little things are. Turns out, they're not so little. It's all created by God and if we would just behold them, we'd notice how spectacular they are, how spectacular HE is.
My experience this afternoon reminded me of how easily we just pass by the orphans of this world. They're all right under our noses, waiting to be loved, waiting to share their beauty with us, waiting to feel the love of Christ. But we walk past them, without thinking about it, without even knowing we're doing it. God wants us to focus on our work, our homes, our families. We bring Him glory when we are tending to these things. But He also wants us to take our shoes off and feel the soil in our toes. He wants us to enjoy his earth and give him thanks for it, and he also wants us to look past our living rooms and reach out to a hurting world.
Before Seamus and I were bonked on the heads about adoption, I'm pretty sure I was oblivious to God's love of orphans. I mean, I thought it was sad and all but I wasn't doing much about it. And the truth is, just because we're adopting a child doesn't mean we're doing enough. My very sweet friend Angie McGinty will be speaking Monday night at a local church's ladies' gathering. I will be there to support her and to hear all the practical ways we, as believers, can help relieve the orphan crisis and share the love of Christ. Oh yeah, and there's a pie auction to benefit the McGinty adoption... pie... I'm there. I am eager and excited to have her educate me on practical ways I can help. I'd love to share these ideas with you and will blog about that very soon.
God may be calling you to adopt an orphan. I pray daily that hearts would be softened to give homes to so many in need. And I ask that you be open to how he may be speaking to you about this. God may NOT be calling you to adopt. But He absolutely calls all of us to care for orphans. This looks different in everyone's walk. Some people are prayer warriors, some have financial means to donate, some have room in their homes for children in need, the list of gifts that enable a person to help goes on and on. I look forward to sharing ways we can all help. Keep an eye out for a blog post soon on ways you can get involved!
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