It was only in February this year, shortly after my mother passed away, that I heard the word orphan applied to an adult. Before that, I thought of orphans only in terms of children, destitute without parents to care for them. Even though both of our parents were gone now, my sisters didn’t feel like the term applied to us, either.
Yet there stayed with me the concept that my siblings and I stand – next in line, so to speak – without the parents that had been there from the moment we were born. No one else can take their place. They had always been there, and somehow – even though I knew better – I thought they always would be. Their abiding presence was my only experience. When mother died, I did feel orphaned, or at least abandoned.
Now I have no one around who knew me the way they knew me. My older siblings knew me from when I was a baby – but they were children then, too. They weren’t the ones who watched me grow – they were growing as well!
Are We Orphans?
I realized the other day that there is someone else who was with us when we were born, watched us grow up, knows us better than we know ourselves, has always been available to us, is available to us even now. He has a quality our parents could not have. He will always be there – not just because He wants to be, but because He can be.
We have a Heavenly Father, to whom we can talk any time, night or day – who was, is, and will be with us yesterday, today, and tomorrow. He has promised to be our Father. He has all the qualities of a caring parent, and more.
He provides for us. “Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?” (Matthew 6:26)
He is always ready to hear from us. “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” Philippians 4:6
He is our Eternal Father, always there through the Son. “For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders. And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6
He will always welcome us back, even when we fail him. “And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet; and bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.’ And they began to celebrate.” Luke 15:21-24
He loves us unconditionally. “I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.” John 17:23 “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8
Because He’s Eternal
He can forgive our sins. “…giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light. For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” Colossians 1:12-14
He can provide us with all spiritual blessings. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.” Ephesians 1:3
In the absence of our parents on earth, it’s now up to us to continue to build a relationship with our Heavenly Father through prayer, through acknowledging our total dependence on Him, through faith in His Son, and through studying His written Word to discover how to live a better life here and to bless our children with an eternal legacy.
Meditation Moments 