Thank You Mom

I had a touching experience this week - and in light of Mother's Day tomorrow, I thought I would share this story.

We have a young man in our lives that has been coming around for quite some time now.  He comes from a broken home.  The situation is bad and as far as I can tell, it keeps getting worse.  I take him to school several days a week.  He gets in trouble a lot - and sometimes I wonder if people realize why.  He wants love and attention and someone to believe in him for a change.  Honestly, I can't always say I like the influence on my son - but if I kick him out of my home and keep him far away - who is going to show him the way?

Most days, he gets off the bus to an empty home and leaves and doesn't come back.  No one asks where he is, no one sets a curfew.  Most of the time, no one is home anyway.  I see him wandering aimlessly, alone, all the time.  He has almost no positive adult interaction in his life.  Mom is gone and Dad - well - when he's home - he's silent or angry.  At times I have spotted this young man watching us from his bedroom window - with an empty smile - longing for what he doesn't have.

I know what it's like to be this young man.  In a different way, but I know how empty it feels to be so alone.  His normal, is very different than my kids normal.  It truly is - heart breaking.

Today, we picked him up from school.  Yesterday I made sure he got dinner.  Today, we did the same - and as I picked him up a sub from subway - he sat down at the table - and he looked at me - and he said the most profound words.

Thank you Mom.

I tried hard not to react.  I didn't want to embarrass him.  I just smiled as he looked at me shyly and said "no problem kiddo - anytime."  Little did he realize how much those 3 words grabbed at my heart.

There are many kids like this one - with no one to call Mom.  No one to make them dinner, no place to call home.  No one to make them tow the line, no one to hold them to any sort of expectations.  No one to fight for them, no one to believe in them.  No one to tell them they are worth something and no one to tell them they can have a bright future.  No one to tell them just how much Jesus loves them, and that he died for them too. 

I just do what I do because that's what I do.  But today - I realized that in the small moments, in the brownies, the rides to school when he misses the bus and no one will take him, the picking him up from penalty hall because his own father refuses to, the basketball games out front, the hamburgers & trampoline out back - in those moments - something was happening in this young man's heart that I never saw until today.  I realized today that I also have a calling to this young man - to show him that life can be better than it is right now.  To show him the love of Christ, to speak peace into his life and hope into his heart.

We all have this responsibility.  To love the orphaned.  Technically, this young man is not orphaned - but in my idea of a family - he is.  I'm sure you know someone like this young man.  Maybe you don't realize what a difference a cookie or a smile can make - but obviously, it's done something here.  Sometimes we need to look past the attitude that teenagers can bring and see the hurting person on the inside.  Pick them up, brush them off, show them the love of Christ.  You never know what God has created them for - it's up to us to show them the way.

Mom.  My favorite word to hear - even when it's coming from someone who is not my child.