Intrinsic value of human life

A week ago I couldn't have told you that there would be a baby sleeping on our bed.

Or that at almost 49 I would be mixing bottles and standing in the Chinese grocery aisle wondering what rice cereal to buy.  I wouldn't have thought that I would be changing diapers, rocking a baby and getting up at night to feed  him.  I wouldn't have thought that I would have bought a baby toy today or copied off black and white shapes to make him a mobile.  But it's true!

No, it's not a late in life surprise baby.  It's a little boy, desperately malnourished, found in a corner of an orphanage by two amazing doctors.  He went to an amazing foster mom last week and now to us for some time.  He is strong, amazing and wants to live. He makes eye contact, grabs hands, turns toward the person he wants and complains loudly when he is uncomfortable. He is hungry and afraid that there will be no food.  He is hyper-vigilant, as children from orphanages tend to be.  He doesn't want to sleep because if he sleeps he might miss food.  He sucks on his hands-something probably learned in the orphanage to self comfort or to take away the hunger.  Not that the hunger goes away. Or the desire for human contact and relationships.

Francis Schaeffer often talked about the value of a person.  I think I am starting to understand this because of this little boy.  He is valuable and loved simply because of who he is.  His value is his humanness and he is loved more than we can imagine.

Several years ago, close family members adopted two children who came out of really difficult family circumstances. I remember the new father saying "How could they do this to children?"  I look at this little skinny baby and I wonder "How could they do this to him" even though I don't even know what the "this" i

This baby is something we didn't expect when we came to China.  It doesn't change our direction or our reason for being here.  It just adds richness to our life in a wonderful and unexpected way.