blessed

Today, God blessed my heart with a reminder of something that Jesus said in his Sermon on the Mount:

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."

When you work with the children that I work with, and you see the things that have been done to them, it's easy to get discouraged and feel as if nothing you do or say can really even put a drop in the bucket toward helping them. Even the angriest, most violent, hateful, and rude children I see have some redeeming quality in them. I look at them and I see a spark of hope for their future... I see a place in their heart that is pure, that hasn't been corrupted by abuse or neglect, and... even though I see that, it's still not always easy to take comfort in that fact.

A child I'm working with right now is really going through hell, and I do everything I can to help - tell bedtime stories and accept hugs, listen to the incessant, "I WANT my MOMMY!" and  "I WANT to go HOME!!" and I make sure their clothes are clean and their hair is combed, but my heart breaks for this child... and I find myself asking, "GOD?? A little help here??" this child needs a break.

So today I was walking through hobby lobby, and there's an entire aisle of crosses that you can hang on the wall, some of them are silver, some of them are rusted - all of them look heavy... and I see this one that catches my eye. "Blessed" it says, and I read the smaller print... "blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."

Blessed.
Blessed through the heartaches of loss, abuse, neglect ... Blessed through the confusion, anger, and disappointment.
Really?

And I don't know how, but he said it...
and I believe it.

I don't know how, or when...
I just pray tonight that they will see Him, and I know that I cannot give up this fight.


"Children are not vessels to be filled, but candles to be lit". -William Martin