HE'S A CHILD FIRST

Recently, I have noticed people who continue to refer to a child that is orphaned over and over as "orphan".

Here's why that bothers me.

Just like people with disabilities, they are people first.  They are not disabled people.  They are people with disabilities.  When the Lord made them, he made them special and unique in that way, but first and foremost, they are people.  The same goes for orphans.  They are children first.  Not orphans.  And when you continue to refer to them as "orphans" all the time and not "orphaned children" or "children that were orphaned", you begin to make it sound like such a negative thing.  Or even that orphans don't mean as much as a child with parents.

But that's wrong.  Just like people with disabilities say, they are children first.  Hurt, abandoned children.  The orphan part of them, though important to their story, is not what should come first.  The beautiful thing about what God did when He adopted us is that He took that name away from us.  He wiped the word "orphan" off our slates because that's not who we are anymore, with Him.  We are no longer orphans, we are children of God.  And... even though there are kids in other countries matched with families in the U.S. waiting to come home, they were turned into that family's son/daughter the moment they were matched.  They are no longer orphans, even if they are not home yet.  They have a family.  In another country, maybe, but they still have a family.  They are no longer left as orphans.

Please remember that the word "orphan" needs to be said fragilely.  They are as much people as you and me are.  They may be orphaned, but God still has a plan for them as much as he has a plan for me and you.  And even though they don't have a family yet... they have a God who cares.  And don't for a minute ever forget that.