one in five.
9.5.14
one of five children die before their fifth birthday.
a statistic that has so easily fallen off of my tongue in the past.
standing by a table with prayer cards, pictures and information, i would tell people of the poverty and hunger.
of the short lived lives and the high mortality rates, that one in five children die before their fifth birthday.
i don't fully realize what those words meant.
i tried, but i couldn't completely wrap my mind around something that big, that heart wrenching.
maybe it was to protect my heart,
maybe it was because i was distracted in the rush of things,
or maybe it was because i couldn't.
i didn't have a way to wrap my mind around it, i had no "box" to put it in yet.
but now looking at their sweet, dirty little faces, my heart breaks.
knowing that it's possible probable for one of these five kids to die before their 5th birthday.
it makes me cry
life is so precious, so fragile.
i reminded of it here daily.
i hear about friends who went to the hospital because of a stomachache,
why go to the hospital for only a stomachache, we wonder.
ad then we hear of the people who died after having a stomachache and not going.
the numbers now have faces and personality.
the statistics names and preferences.
how do i begin to deal with it, grapple with the weight of it all?
life here has no happy ending.
there is no light at the end of the tunnel,
except for The Light.
the only One who can provide any hope in this dark, dangerous world we live in.
4 notes
Praying for strength for your family!
ReplyDeleteSending prayers for you. ♥ I can somewhat imagine how hard it would be just from doing foster care, but not to the full extent, I think. It's so hard to watch.
ReplyDeleteEvery life is precious. Such sweet faces. The only way to make it is cry with those who are crying, hug on the ones God puts in your path and pray to our mighty, gracious God that salvation would be known early.
ReplyDeleteThose are some precious faces. May God continue to bless your ministry to them and may they inherit the Kingdom of Heaven!
ReplyDeletei love nothing more than comments, coffee and chocolate. so be a dear and leave a note…