The Kingdom of Heaven Belongs to Such as These

We’ve been volunteering to work with the patients at a Catholic Hospital. This hospital is run solely on donations (mostly from the US and Europe); and it is different than a typical hospital- it is not a place for the ill to get better, it is a home for those with special needs.

Our time there is trying on the body and spirit. Our first day we were asked to go play with the children… but they’re all in wheel chairs. They don’t speak, they don’t understand, they’re fragile. We spoke monologues, we sang, we touched, we fed, we shooed flies from their faces, we wheeled them around.

These children may not know what we are saying, and they may not remember who we are (if they even acknowledged our presence in the first place), but maybe we can make their life more enjoyable by loving on them. Maybe we can give them a reason to smile.

It breaks my heart to see a five-year-old the size of a 10 month old baby (his name is Melvin). It kills me to see a baby cry non-stop for no known reason (Gaspar). It hurts me to see an 8-year-old with a head bigger than his body (Jo-Jo). I hate the truth that these precious children will live their entire lives in this hospital.

But, as much as it hurts to play with these kids, it is worth it! I am so blessed to be with such innocence. I am so grateful to have such extraordinary children to love. Thank You, God, for giving life to these children. Thank You for providing wonderful nurses to care for them so lovingly. And thank You for promising these precious ones a wonderful life in Heaven with You.