Some years ago one of our Project Managers informed us of a heartbreaking example of this-someone had thrown away a gift of great value. A newborn baby girl had been tossed from a moving vehicle, coming to a stop after skidding across gravel on her face-discarded, likely for the sole reason that she was female, since she had no visible deformities. A passer-by found her, still only a few hours old, and brought her to an orphanage supported by [name of organization]. Miraculously, other than the loss of skin, she appeared to be fine.
Ask any couple that has grappled with the darkness and doubt of infertility what a shimmering gift that little girl really was, and is...they know. They understand.
And God understands the immeasurable value of every child, as the Psalmist reveals:
For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
Psalm 139:13-15
[Name of organization] endeavors to remember the "fearfully and wonderfully made," children who are all-too-often literally discarded, tossed out at a dump, into a Dumpster, or into the streets to fend for themselves. Other children in our sponsorship program do come from loving households, but the family finds itself locked in a seemingly endless cycle of poverty and despair.
How can we break this pattern, this hopelessness? No easy answers to that question have ever presented themselves, but this Christmas you have an opportunity to provide a gift for a child who doesn't get many--a Christmas present given in honor of a Child who was, Himself, the ultimate Gift. Don't discard the opportunity!
A monetary contribution to the Childcare Gift Fund helps us supply a gift for each child in the program, sponsored or not. Getting a gift for Christmas can provide simple pleasure to a child, certainly, but it can also underscore the central message of the Gospel:
YOU ARE NOT DISCARDED. YOU ARE MINE, AND YOU ARE LOVED.
Brenda Kern
September 15, 2003
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