Whenever we see our friends, they usually have a Plus One in tow. A Plus One is a child who is not their own, a child they love just the same.
The Plus One our friends brought this weekend was different because this girl has taken up permanent residence with our friends, and she is a teenager. Oh, and this Plus One recently spent some time in jail. Um, as in last weekend.
And as the female part of the Pied Piper couple and I sat with our pants rolled to our knees, baking our white legs in the NC sun, I asked hard questions.
Aren’t your hands already full?
Don’t you worry about the impact on your kids?
Financially, can you hack it?
Of course, my friend worried, but her worries weren’t about responsibilities that already flooded or the disruption of birth order in her family’s home or her new laptop crashing into a nearby wall. My friend worried more about what would happen if her family didn’t take in this girl, if they didn’t act.
This conversation was a lot for me to think about because raising someone else’s child just isn’t simple. So, I didn’t say anything. Instead, I painted my toes cotton candy pink, ate a big bowl of vanilla ice cream with crunchy peanut butter and thought about selflessness.
Selflessness. A concept humans aren't hardwired to understand. For some, selflessness means opening homes to kids. For others, it means discovering new ways to open our hearts.
Jim Wallis once stated, "Things change when a new generation decides 'this that was acceptable is no longer tolerable, or 'that which we thought impossible, now we believe can be done.'"
Praying you find eyes to see hurt in the world and courage to get up and act, even in a small way.
Linking with Jen.Praying you find eyes to see hurt in the world and courage to get up and act, even in a small way.
Question for you: What issue rattles around your heart and your head?
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21 comments:
Whoa.
The issues that rattle around in my heart and head lately have been praying hard for this generation of young people, who are listening to music that is training them to devalue themselves and others.
I feel a burden to pray for modest, and moral people to rise up in the music and entertainment industry to be role models that are WORTH looking up to.
(Oh ... and I am trying my hand at the bagels today. Not entirely optimistic. *scrunching up my face in a not quite defeated but not altogether happy way*)
That quote. Whoa. wHoA.
The issue that's been consuming me lately is capital punishment. I don't know how this policy can still exist in a country as advanced as the U.S. If thou shall not kill, then thou shall not kill. Period. I recently did some research and only 26% of countries worldwide maintain some form of capital punishment and most of these countries are not ones we want to be associated with (Iraq, Iran, North Korea, Syria). I'm just disappointed in us as a country. I'm also upset that The Church isn't raising more awareness about this as they advocate for the sanctity of life.
I'm so weird. I always have an issue like this stewing in the back of my mind.
We have had lots of "plus one's" in our family. It is a joy.
Selflessness is something we humans are hardwired to understand.. that's the line that will rattle in my head a while. I admire your friend-- and thank you for your honesty as you wrestle with what it looks like to be selfless. I know that will look different for all of us, but I what would this world look like if we all began to open our hearts? Blessings to you, Amy!
I wrestle with all this...
I want to be your friend.
I want an open heart and open home and we often do have "plus ones" with us.
It's hard to sort out what is wisdom and what is self-protection (or selfishness).
I guess for me it comes down to my view of "safety".
In Him--
In His will...that is safety.
I can trust Him.
If He leads us to step out.
I can trust Him that it will be for my (and our good)...
Even though that doesn't always look the way I think it may.
If that makes any sense at all?
At least it makes me more willing to step out in faith and take risks when He asks me/us to.
I wrestle with all this...
I want to be your friend.
I want an open heart and open home and we often do have "plus ones" with us.
It's hard to sort out what is wisdom and what is self-protection (or selfishness).
I guess for me it comes down to my view of "safety".
In Him--
In His will...that is safety.
I can trust Him.
If He leads us to step out.
I can trust Him that it will be for my (and our good)...
Even though that doesn't always look the way I think it may.
If that makes any sense at all?
At least it makes me more willing to step out in faith and take risks when He asks me/us to.
i always wonder if we're supposed to adopt more. that's what i wrestle with--all those left behind, the fact that maybe we could rescue just. one. more.
the challenge is to be open, without being crushed by the weight of it. i find myself looking around for those opportunities right where i am, since i am pretty sure we'll not be making that trip across the ocean again unless God moves in a very powerful way. (and i don't think i'll ever give up on that possibility)
steph
Praying the same for our family as we are continually faced with the Holy Spirit's prompting to embrace fostering. Currently, asking if we are running in the wrong direction or if waiting is the right thing during this season of our own expanding family.
The Holy Spirit spoke to me through your words today.
Parenthood. It has become a passion but I'm not really sure what to do about it yet. I'm praying.
It's so funny that you posted this because I have just been thinking I needed to repost a similar one about my friend for my own benefit. http://www.thepoorganiclife.com/jell-o
My dad often shares that when he wrestled over whether or not to have a third child (mostly because my mom wanted another while he was content with two), the Lord said, "You will increase your joy and increase your pain." My Dad decided that he wanted to increase his joy, whatever it meant. I've thought of this many times because so many of the "selfless" decisions we make are really just a mixed bag of joy and pain that God is inviting us to experience in order to get to know His sufficiency better. May we say yes to nail polish, ice cream, plus ones, and all the beautiful gifts God has for us. ;)
I'm bawling. I felt as if I was there in the sun with you and your friend. I remember last November having two homeless men over for Thanksgiving dinner. Many friends asked the questions about why? safety? etc.? But I just knew it was what I had to do. It is one of the most memorable days of my life. It was a day that I knew that I knew I was living in God's utmost will! Love your beautiful heart. And I could so use some sun, polish, and ice cream!!!
www.positivelyalene.com/
To be honest...I am just now having my heart awakened to the suffering and injustice around me...people like your friend inspire and awaken my heart...Blessings~
Lovely and powerful and convicting and so, so inspiring. We can do amazing, countercultural things when we act out of love. First, foremost and only. Love, love, love. I love your friend's story, and I love yours, and I love how we can all be part of this grand epic tale being woven with invisible hands. Peace.
I have a friend like this too. Always taking in people and making a difference in their lives and I think of all those same questions. I started mentoring an "at risk" teen last month. The second time we met, she wanted me to meet her friend and thought it was going to be too long until we met again. And I thought she was bored the first time.
I have a friend like this too. Always taking in people and making a difference in their lives and I think of all those same questions. I started mentoring an "at risk" teen last month. The second time we met, she wanted me to meet her friend and thought it was going to be too long until we met again. And I thought she was bored the first time.
Discovering new ways to open our hearts...vulnerability...and learning to be selfless (because it sure doesn't come naturally). Praying for courageous hearts and seeing eyes...
It's a rare person who is willing to disrupt their life for the sake of another. Wow! This post really challenged me.
This is super.
I wonder when we should stop having kids. You know, how do you know when you have..."enough"? If you take selfishness out of the equation, it's very confusing.
And you know what? the way you wrote this is amazing. You didn't say anything and painted your toenails cotton candy pink?!? It's totally what I would do. you made this real...you made this everybody. So thanks. Loved it.
Oh. Man. We randomly watched part of The Blind Side on TV the other night - random TV is something we never do - and there is a part where Leann shows Michael his new bedroom in their home. He looks around and says, "I never had one of these before." She says, "Your own room?" and he says, "No. A bed." She swallows hard and then quickly leaves the room. I nearly busted wide open. I've got the face of a precious Compassion child in Uganda on my refrigerator, but I know there are kids in similar situations right here in my town. It is weighing on me, and it always has - since childhood. Most of the kids I grew up with lived in government housing. I had a close view of that kind of poverty, and it basically left me with this: It is complicated and I don't know how to change it. But I think God's message has always been, "Start somewhere," and after years of, "I will," I'm moving closer to, "I am." It is clear He is after me - every time I look at a screen (the TV, this computer) a message is coming through. Thanks for being the messenger, Amy :)
Hmmm, what rattles around my head? Unfortunately, more rattles about me than others. How to kill the self-centeredness that is so automatic?
A self-talk question I am learning to ask my self often "Is God enough?" rattles around my head more and more lately. It has nothing really to do with this post and helping others, but this question is helping to center me.
Thanks for the post and I love ice cream and painting toenails on your deck.
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