not forgotten, but remembered

there have been days in my life that i have felt forgotten--because a friend picked her over me, because my idea was not chosen, because i was overlooked for someone else...at the time, those moments felt like the end of the world. (that comes from the perspective of a middle-class teenager/young adult that had known little outside of her own little world.)

fast forward a few years.  being  forgotten means something far different than it did in years past.  it's based more on the idea of someone remembered--there is a ten year old girl, living in the middle of one of the largest cities in the world.  she no longer is just one of the many children in the city, trying to press on to another day.  her family has always loved her, but she now also has someone half a world away who now thinks about her and loves and prays for her every day.  there is a boy who lives in a village close to the equator who has lost his parents to hiv/aids, but there is a family that loves him and cares for him even though they've never met. these are two children that are not forgotten, but remembered.

forgotten are the millions of children and adults who feel hopeless.  people waiting for help and are waiting for those who have much to share with those that have little.  forgotten are the ones that will not wake up today after they went to sleep beyond hungry.  forgotten are the ones that will dig through garbage heaps searching for scraps to eat or to sell for money.  forgotten are the ones that struggle with the decision to drink contaminated water or go without drinking anything at all today.  forgotten are the families that are piled into a single-room home with raw sewage running by its only door.

this is where i'm infinitely grateful for a ministry like Compassion International.  they give us the opportunity to remember and help the forgotten.  we can sit comfortably in our air-conditioned homes with our filtered water, stocked refrigerators and pantries and clothes and toys and things to amuse us with our focus being centered on ourselves and our own comfort level, or we can get involved with Compassion by making a small committment--by taking a small portion of what God has blessed us with and make a life-changing difference in the life of a child.  a small financial committment and time to write and encourage someone miles away--God can use that act of  remembering to literally change the course of another human being.  we can forget that there are so many struggles in this world, or we can remember and make a difference.

God created each child, each person with infinite worth and value.  i don't ever want to forget that.