Why bother with Awareness

It was a cool, quiet afternoon in 2002. I was homeschooled so classes often included my little CD player blaring through my work space. I often had music playing to help me focus or just edge out the lonely quiet that could creep up while I was alone.

I remember popping in my brand new Christmas CD - WOW Christmas, I honestly have no idea what time of year it was because I'm one of those wonderfully weird people who can pull out the Christmas tunes any time of year.

That was the year that WOW include TobyMac's "This Christmas".The song captivated me, I played that song over and over to the point I was surprised it wasn't scratched when I finally added it to my ITunes a few years later.

It's a simple song to remember, telling the story of a young boy having a discussion. As the song unfolds you discover the boy has no family of his own. The song really hit me as a teen. I was aware that there were children without families, that's what we were told CAS was for. I had read Anne of Green Gables and knew on some levels that orphanages still existed around the world. For some reason, as I sat at my desk and hear the song unfold into the first half of James 1:27 "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress" it suddenly dawned  on me that, maybe, we all had some level of responsibility.

There is such a temptation to fall into the mentality that someone else is already doing something: CAS, staff workers, volunteers, missionaries, etc. .. Worse, we can fall into the trap of "out of sight, out of mind" - a tragedy brought home once again this week in Julia's blogpost. When we overlook we can't challenge for change, we don't open our hearts, and people start slipping through cracks.

November is Orphan Awareness Month. An entire month dedicated to remembering these children and promoting the ways to change because, I think, far too often it's easy to overlook, easy to forget, easy to minimize rather than face our own comfort or maybe or own inability. This is how the Ben's and the Isaiahu's stories are repeated over and over again only, perhaps, without the outpouring that has allowed them the extra care to hold on.

Even in an awareness month it's painfully easy to overlook. Not everyone is called to adoption, it can be a hard and painful road and some people are called to walk other ministries more intimately. However, James makes it clear that we all hold responsibility because adoption is not the only way to help.

Locally, there is a need for parents but there is also a need for those who can foster, those who can provide respite, or even find unique ways to support through gifts and events.

Local and International adopt can be support through prayer, giving financially either to help with adoption like with Tarsha and others through an organization like Reece's Rainbow/ a group working locally/ or a local (overseas) group like Camp Lela.

There's also the ability to help by supporting families both in and post adoption as they anticipate or adjust to their new family dynamics. Be a community by asking what these families need or offering a few choices rather than imposing your own opinions on what you think is needed. There are lots of amazing blogs out there that touch upon this one.

Finally you can raise awareness through education. By getting the information yourself and raising your own awareness on the situation facing orphans around the globe you can be prepared to pass along that information to others and who knows how far those ripples could go.