Caring Heart: Faith

Faith    [from the "Celebrations" section]

Thank you, Lord.  Thank you for sticking with him.  Thank you for tickling away at his heart until it opened.  It was so gradual I didn't even realize it had happened.  He didn't seem any different.  But today I was talking with him about people who are lonely. He listened so somberly.  Then when I asked if he knew anybody who was lonely, he really got into the discussion.  He talked about the homeless people.  He talked about the couple whose son died.  He talked about the old woman down the street we see walking alone each day.  Then I asked him if he was ever lonely.  He said "Sort of, sometimes.  But not really lonely." When I asked him what he meant, he looked at me as if I should already know.  "I can't be really lonely.  Even when I think I'm alone, I'm not alone.  God is always there with me."  Out of the mouths and hearts of babes.  Thank you Lord.

Excerpted from "The Caring Heart Speaks: Meditations for foster, kinship, and adoptive parents" by Gail Underwood Parker      Artwork by Anna Parker David from the book cover.