I just got to watch the footage of the first meeting of my friend and her adopted son. He came in on a plane this past Thursday night. The case worker brought him through the airport in a stroller. My friend literally ran to meet him. She expected that he might scream in fear as she approached him, but as soon as she got to the stroller, he lifted his arms up to embrace her. It was the most precious thing. No fear, just trust in the presence of great love. Arms lifted, ready to receive all that she and her husband had for him. They are giving this sweet little boy a brand new life. A fresh start. A bright future. And glorious, incredible, unconditional love. They took an orphan and made him their son.
It made me think. Isn’t that what we all want? To be loved. Accepted. Understood. Treasured. We long for it. Ache even. And it’s power overwhelms and transforms us. If we’re lucky, we find that in human relationships at varying levels. And if we have experienced it, we want to share it. To let others in on the amazing work of love. We see what it does in our own lives, and we love to watch what it can do in the lives of others. And if we are privileged enough to get to be part of that experience….WOW!
But of course God, who is the very definition of love, understood our need for it. And he gave it to us in the most incredible way he could, by becoming one of us and loving us right where we were at. He ran to us when we were the orphans. Lost. Needy. Broken. Abandoned. And he gave his own life for us so that we could become his very own sons and daughters. Accepted. Treasured. Chosen. Loved. All we had to do was reach up and receive this amazing love of one we didn’t know yet, but whose love was so evident that we would want to respond by trusting. We had nothing, and he gave us a brand new life.
In the video, my friend was eager to get him home. She knew he had had a long flight and was tired. She longed to hold him in her arms and just love on him. But there were people who needed to see and touch him and feel his touch. And there was the long car ride home. He would have to sit for a while in his car seat and trust the love of his new parents until he was home and could see it and hear it and feel it in the “realest” sense.
I think God is eager to take us home, too. To be able to love on us without the distractions of pain and all that life brings in this world. And there are times when we long for it more than we want our next breath. But there are people here who still need our touch. We are still on the car ride home, stuck in our car seats until we get to the place our precious Father has promised is waiting for us. And then we will be able to fully see, hear and feel the love of the one who adopted us.
The adoption is complete. And the destination of home is worth the drive….;-)
