“I see you”

Nearly ten years ago, while on holiday, I read an article about Home for Good, a new campaign being launched to engage the Church in the conversation around adoption and fostering - to dare to believe the Church could be part of the solution, helping to find a home for every child who needs one.

As a mum with adopted children, it was music to my ears. To see the stories of my children embedded into the vision of the Church brought a sense of hope for us as a family and, more importantly, for my children. To acknowledge their stories that differ from our own was to say, “I see you.”

As we approach Mother’s Day, I want to say, “I see you.”

We acknowledge the challenge and the joy that sit in tension for many of us on days like this. For those who would love to be mums but aren’t. For those finding being a mum more challenging. For those grieving the loss of their mum. For those adopted and thinking of their birth mother. For mums grieving the loss of a child. For those estranged from their mums or children. For children looking to find a home for good. For those dealing with long term illnesses. I see you.

One of my favourite books in the Bible (if you can have a favourite) is Ruth. Naomi moved from Bethlehem to Moab at a time of famine. Her journey began as one full of hope, but over time turned hopeless. Naomi’s husband passed away and ten years later her sons passed away too, leaving her with two Moabite daughters-in-laws and no grandchildren.

Yet amidst immense sadness there is a beautiful, powerful moment of covenant commitment. We say that blood is thicker than water, but Ruth’s words and life say love is stronger still.

But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go, I will go, and where you stay, I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.” Ruth 1:16-17 (NIV)

We often stop at this part when we reflect on the story, but what follows is a beautiful image which encapsulates a posture of “I see you.”

It says, “I see you,” and I will not stop at that, but I will travel with you. “I will accompany you.”

And so, the two of them travelled on together to Bethlehem. Ruth 1:19 (MSG)

Our Biblical mandate to care for the vulnerable, extend hospitality and seek justice should compel us to action, just as it did for Ruth. It invites and calls us to say, “I see you and I will accompany you.”

May I indulge you to take a moment and imagine the vulnerability of finding yourself with no place to call home? This is the story we are witnessing before our very eyes as we are immersed in a period of history during which many people have been displaced from their homes; individuals and families from Ukraine and Afghanistan, Syria and Eritrea, Sudan, Somalia and Yemen to name just a few.

In the midst of such heartache we find immense uncertainty, vulnerability, trauma and loss, but we can echo, “I see you and I will accompany you.”

In the past year more than 60 unaccompanied minors, young refugees between the ages of 14 and 17, have arrived alone onto the shores of Northern Ireland, without family. Each of these precious lives needs a home for good - someone who will say, “I see you and I will accompany you.”

Throughout the Bible, we are reminded of God’s heart for the vulnerable, and particularly those without a family to love and protect them.

A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families. Psalm 68:6

As we acknowledge the challenge and joys in celebrating Mother’s Day, may we take a moment to pause as followers of Jesus and allow Him to open our eyes and heart, so that we may be a people who see and accompany the stranger, the lonely, the unaccompanied, those who need a place to call home.