Most of my "future plans" seem to ebb & flow with time, with only a few things that are constants. If our life was a story, then the "constants" would be the thread that follows the character(s) throughout all of the different scenarios, chapters, sequels, trials and triumphs. The common thread, linking all of the experiences together.
A common thread for many of my friends and I is our faith. Jesus Christ is a common theme, or color, woven in-and-out of the fabric of our lives' story. Serving Him, walking with Him, learning to know His heart and hear His voice. This should be the central thread for all of our lives, but I must admit it takes work and focus to keep it there.
A personal thread for me would be Orphans and Adoption. I was seven when my mom read me the biography of George Mueller, the "Guardian of Bristol's Orphans". In the last 10 years, I have probably made over a hundred "blue prints" and "sketches" and "mission statements" etc. about what I envisions my work with orphans to be. After reading George Mueller's story, I wanted to do what he did.
Not too long ago, I then had the privilege to read the biography of Lillian Trasher, "Mother of the Nile". Her work with orphans in Egypt was just as inspiring as George's work in England. These heroes of the faith that had gone before me, weaving the fabric of their stories together with so many others' stories, had something in common: they served a great God. They weren't "great people", but ordinary people who were willing to work hard to have Christ the center thread in their life, and He used them to be blessings in many forgotten children's lives.
At VBS a few years ago, we did the song "I am Not Forgotten" and it still rings true in my heart. I want them to know that they are not forgotten. That they are loved, treasured; responsible to grow, able to learn; unconditionally loved, unashamedly beautiful.
God designed the Family. The favorite definition of "Family" comes from "Lilo&Stitch".
"Ohana means Family. Family means no one gets left behind, or forgotten."
Yet for thousands of children in the United States each year, they are left behind. They are forgotten.
Approx. 25,000 kids "graduate" from the Foster Care system without a Family.
Each year nearly 20,000 ordinary children in Indiana are abused and neglected by their parents. That's 442 kids each week or 63 kids every day who suffer. (http://www.newsongmission.org/ContentPages.aspx?PageId=15&LinkLevel1Id=103&LinkLevel2Id=105)
Whatever fabric-picture may be woven in my future, I dream of loving on some of these kiddos. Because, Love Dreams of Its Future, but for these kids, they've never known true love or a hopeful future.
I have always dreamed of adopting; I tell people I want to have 7 kids, four of my own and three who are adopted! While the final fabric may not look exactly as I picture it right now, I still dream. Because I want to love on them.
I must remember, I probably won't change the world. Not many of us will be the next Lillian Trasher or Billy Graham or Mother Theresa or George Mueller. However, thousands of us can be the next Friend, Mother, Father, Mentor, Counselor, Supporter, and/or Prayer Warrior for the forgotten hearts of this world. We can show the Father Heart of God, which is so hard to see through the warped, twisted, and knotted fabric of abuse, abandonment, and neglect.
When viewed through the knit, tight, designed fabric of love, acceptance, and Salvation, the Father Heart of God becomes the healing place for all that diseases us.