God Places the Lonely in Families

One of my favorite sayings is “God places the lonely in families.”


 

When I first heard this one, I was a little offended… Well, more like offended a lot! I thought, “Who said I was lonely! Who said I needed a family! I like being by myself just fine. I don’t need anyone! I have a family anyway… who lives thousands of miles away, but they are there! And I have friends… who also live thousands of miles away… and… wait a moment… I guess I am lonely – especially in this time zone. Waiting for the West Coast to wake up is a long, lonely time. Long distance hugs are rather lonely too. Sigh, I guess I do need God to place me in a family out here in the wilds of Washington DC.”

Here be dragons!



So I asked Him for a family… and boy, did He answer! I have the most awesome family ever here in DC (to complement my West Coast family). I have friends, true bosom buddies, kindred spirits, Jonathans to my David and Davids to my Jonathan! If I was ever being attacked in a dark alley, these are the people who I’d want to have my back. And they would!

But I was also lonely in another way too…

People often quote this “God places the lonely in families” in reference to orphans being adopted… How God scoops them up and puts them into the loving arms of a new mom and dad – sometimes with new brothers and/or sisters! And it is true – He does find just the right fit for these little ones who have lost so much. They are lonely no more!

But the other side of the coin is just as true – it’s not just the child that gets placed in a family – it’s the lonely mom and dad yearning for a little one. God places the parents in this family just as much as the child….

We were lonely for a little son… our arms – and hearts were empty. No pitter-patter of little feet. No cuddles and tucking in at bedtime. It is a horrible loneliness that breaks your heart and shatters your soul.

But now, in a matter of weeks, we will visit the little one that God has placed us with – he is our family and God’s cure to our specific brand of loneliness. No, it will not be an easy or instantaneous family – it will be a labor of love. He will need to get to know and become attached to us and we will need to get to know and become attached to him. There will be times of craziness and times of figuring everything out… probably for the foreseeable future. And we know the pitter-patter of little feet will occur at 2:00 a.m. and then be followed by cuddles and tucking in for the nth time that night, and we will be dead tired, probably cranky as all get out, and incapable of putting a coherent sentence together the next morning – but it will be family. It will be family at last.

So frequently we hear, “He is so lucky to be adopted by you!”

Little do they know, we are the “lucky” ones… we are the recipients of this blessing, this healing miracle.

What joy! What absolute joy!