Let Us Be Love

I (Alison) am a mother of three. That responsibility alone is enough to fill my days with laundry, meal prep, cleaning, and homework help. Add my many part-time “jobs,” and life begins to feel like a perpetual juggling act. With all those balls in the air, I have a tendency to kick into survival mode. I relegate my callings as wife, mother, and child of God to a color-coded to-do list. Must. Not. Drop. Ball. This is my sad and desperate battle cry.

Thankfully, these bouts of Type A desperation only last a season. Inevitably, something wakes me up and reminds me that life – in particular life as a parent - isn’t about doing all the right things. It’s about being the right person, a woman who loves her children even when every single ball comes crashing to the ground.

We Can Never Do Enough

Doing vs. being. It’s a struggle we all face, not only in our families but in our calling to care for orphans and widows. Through adoption and orphan care I’ve witnessed the devastating effects of poverty, malnutrition, and abandonment. I want to fix what is broken. We all do.

And do.

And do.

Orphan care takes a lot of doing. We want our Imana Kids to have full bellies, fertile minds, and big dreams. We’re working hard to make that happen. We have a lot of balls in the air: Nutrition, Education, Fundraising, Medical Care, Hygiene, School Supplies.

But hanging over all we do, we have a motto:

Love One Child. Change the World.

"If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing." I Corinthians 13:1-3

Be Love. Be Loved. Beloved.

Love.

Yes, we will feed the children. We will send them to school. We will provide uniforms, undergarments, hygiene supplies, and medical care. We will do all we can for their bodies and minds. But unless we do it out of love, we will never meet the deepest need of every human soul: to love, be loved, and know we are God’s beloved.

If you sponsor an Imana Kid, you hold a precious opportunity in your hands. You can offer your sponsored son or daughter a gift far more valuable than any physical possession.

Love your child, change his world. Write letters. Pray for him. Go to Rwanda with Imana Kids, smile into his beautiful eyes, and let him see how precious he is to you and to his Creator.

Food changes a body. Education changes a mind. Love changes a life. And changed lives change the world.

What a glorious calling we’ve been given. We have much to do. As we do it, let us be love.

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails." 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a

Family Finds a Way

If you defined an orphan as “a child without a family,” most people would probably agree with you. Orphans are children (and adults) who have typically lost one or both parents and live outside a family structure. Loss of family is devastating, without question. We’re created for connection, love, and companionship. We’re created for family, and because this need was written into our DNA by a relational God, family finds a way to happen.

We see this in our Imana Kids. They are orphans, but they are not without family. They have become brothers and sisters, and their love for one another is evident in a thousand precious ways:

*The teenage boy who fetches a potty for a crying toddler, recognizing the source of her distress, and taking initiative to ease it.

*The bright eyes, warm hugs, and laughter of the high school children when they are reunited with their younger “siblings” after a term at boarding school.

*The peaceful coexistence of scores of children - babies to young adults- helping, loving, and watching over one another.

Our Imana Kids might not live with earthly parents, but they are loved by their heavenly Father, and their love for one another is evidence of His grace in a broken world. He has given them each other. And while they are together, these orphans have a family.