See that you do not disdain one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven. (Matthew 18:10)
On our last day in India, our team visited an orphanage in Chennai. Fourteen freshly bathed children met us at the gate and handed each of us a rose.
The grade schoolers pleaded, “Uncle, come sit by me.”
“Aunty, over here, please sit between us.”
They pumped love into us from their eyes.
The day before, there were fifteen children, but one was sent to the terminal care center. These were AIDS orphans, and they knew they had little time on earth. They were shunned by their community, lived in faith for their next meal, and had their life expectancy hacked short.
It didn’t matter to the orphans that the world had wrung them of life. They were connected to the face of their heavenly Father and amply supplied with what really mattered. We had first world wealth, experiences they couldn’t imagine, and education on a host of subjects—and they gave to us. These were spiritual giants, magnates of unlimited resources who tossed out fortunes of goodwill as though it cost them nothing.
The words of Jesus shouted from the pages of Revelation, … you say, “I am rich and have acquired great wealth, and need nothing,” but do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked. He says that about me and the people I live among, not about the orphans of Chennai.
The kids were a living motto—Joy for what is, without a care for what is not. I need that kind of trust in my life. Our visit made me realize that from my place of impoverishment of heart, I must look up to the shining orphans of Chennai.
Prayer: Father of the fatherless, make me rich in spirit like them.