people. But you'd have a hard time convincing far too many people in
this world whose life circumstances scream to them that they are
worthless. Whether they are victims of abuse, racism, or other forms
of degradation; whether their trauma was a single incident or a slow
and steady erosion; whether they were physically or emotionally
abandoned; they are faced with overwhelming evidence that the world
couldn't care less about them, that there is no loving God who deeply
knows and cares for them.
I was reminded by a friend this week that the longer people have lived
with this understanding, the harder it is to get them to change their
mind. Imagine you believe something your whole life, and have that
belief daily reinforced. How easily would you be able to believe
otherwise?
Amy and I harbor no martyr complex about being adoptive parents.
We've done it twice, with a third on the way, not to "save" these
kids, but because we want to be parents.
But we're mindful that when kids get put up for adoption, there's an
extra special obligation for adoptive parents to love and accept those
children. No disrespect meant to the biological parents: far from it,
for in many cases, their love and sacrifice towards their children is
something I will never attain to.
Nevertheless, it can be easy for an adopted kid to wonder about their
value, whatever the circumstances that led to their adoptability. And
so while many in this world who are grown are feeling worthless, so
are many in this world who are but babies and for whom there's time to
tell them otherwise.
And so I am always glad when someone comes up to me and tells me they
are thinking of adopting. Because out of the hundreds of millions of
little ones scattered around the world for whom the evidence is
compelling to them that they matter not, that's at least one who has a
good shot of being convinced otherwise.
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