It Ain't Yours to Throw Away – Children

Greetings Dear Reader,

I want to apologize in advance for any toes I am about to trample.  No matter what your crime or sin I do not hate you.  I do, however, loath it when children are hurt.  The obvious focus of this could be abortion but I have written about that in the past and do not have anything further to say about it at this time.

Photo by Natalie Foley

We throw away children in many other ways.  Fathers create them and then refuse to be fathers.  Mothers choose the life they want over the life to which they are obligated and damage their own children to do it.  The parents treating each other with love and respect does more to protect a child than anything.  It is too common in our society to choose our selfish desires over the needs of our children. 

Aunts and uncles choose to ignore the needs unmet when marriages fail for their siblings.  Grandparents fail to pass on the wisdom of their generation.  We encounter abuse and refuse to intervene.  We allow children to live in poverty when we have more that we need.

Please recall that this discussion is to prepare my heart for the advent season.  If this time does not warrant considering children then none does.  We have created a culture where children are disposable.  Instead we should be doing whatever it takes to protect the hearts of children. 

If there is anywhere where my heart must follow Christ it is with the welfare of children.  I cannot undo my past failures and must not dwell on those.  I can work to show selfless love to my children now.  I can see their genuine needs and help where I can.  I can refuse to put my wants ahead of their needs.

More so I can be a grandparent who cares for the needs of his Grandchildren over what I want.  I can be there for them when they need me.  I can make it about them and not about them fulfilling me.  Is that not what it really comes down to with children?  If we work to meet their needs then who they are will be what fulfills us.

We are not to use them to make us happy.  We are to invest in them so that they will have an honest shot at happiness.  Jesus had some serious comments about all of this.  If I am to follow him I must assure that I listen to him regarding children.  Anything that is knowingly hurting a child is dangerous for me.  Anything that strengthens their faith and character is good.   

How can I hope to show them that Jesus loves them if I do not selflessly do that as well?  I cannot.  No matter what I think I might need from them it is not my needs that matter.  It is doing whatever it takes to show them love, generosity, and kindness.  It means being whatever I must to insure that they are given every opportunity to have a good life.

Don’t Tell Them Jesus Loves Them – Steve Camp 

Oh suffering soul, crying out for love

In a world that seldom cares

See the hungry heart longing to be filled

Much more than our prayers

And a young girl sells herself on Seventh Avenue

And you hear her crying out for help,

"My God, what will we do?"

Don't tell them Jesus loves them till you're ready to love them too

Till your heart breaks from the sorrow and the pain they're going through

With a life full of compassion may we do what we must do

Don't tell them Jesus loves them till you're ready to love them too

Oh, the desperate man

Are we reaching for the souls that are sinking down in sin?

Oh, cry for the child

We've lost our passion for the lost and there are billions left to win

And another forty thousand children starved to death today

Would we risk all we have to see what of them say?

Don't tell them Jesus loves them till you're ready to love them too

Till your heart breaks from the sorrow and the pain they're going through

With a life full of compassion may we do what we must do

Don't tell them Jesus loves them till you're ready to love them too

Why have we waited so long to show them Jesus lives

To share salvation's song

Why have our hearts become so proud that we fail to see

To love them is to love God

And a young girl sells herself on Seventh Avenue

Hear her crying out for help,

"What will we do?"

Don't tell them Jesus loves them till you're ready to love them too

Till your heart breaks from the sorrow and the pain they're going through

With a life full of compassion may we do what we must do

Don't tell them Jesus loves them till you're ready to love them too

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store."