The Christmas Child
Penny Musco
Blurb:
A barren couple. A baby who needs a home. A husband adamantly opposed to adoption.
Infertility casts a shadow over Robert and Hannah’s marriage in 1891 New York City. So does her newfound Christian faith, a result of Dwight L. Moody’s evangelistic campaign. Their world is further rocked by their immigrant maid’s pregnancy, and by Jacob Riis’ exposé on life in the city’s tenements.
The Christmas Child intertwines the themes of childlessness and cultural differences in an exciting inspirational story.
Excerpt from the book:
“Tell me, Mr. Jessup, were you born into your family?”
“Of course! What other way is there?”
“Adoption.”
Robert stopped with the spoon halfway to his mouth. That Mr. Halsmith would raise that subject! But of course, anyone who was interested in orphans would be interested in adoption. He relaxed. “Yes, there is that, naturally.”
“Actually, there’s nothing natural about it.” Mr. Halsmith replied. “Think about it. Being born is natural. Everyone is born of a woman. Even our Saviour came into the world the usual way. But sometimes it happens that a husband and wife can’t have children of their own, and children are sometimes abandoned by their parents or lose them to death or incapacitating illness. What happens then?”
Robert’s mouth went dry. How could this man, practically a stranger, know their situation? Could Hannah have told him? He dismissed the thought immediately. She could barely discuss it with him, and he knew she would never bring up such an intimate subject with another man.
He noticed Mr. Halsmith looking at him curiously. “I suppose that the...the family without children should adopt the children without a family.”
“Ideally. But it’s not natural, is it?” He went on without waiting for a reply. “When a mother and father are blessed with a child, they don’t usually have much say in what they get: girl or boy, short, tall, happy or melancholy disposition, and so on. We have to take what we get, so to speak. But when a husband and wife decide to adopt—and I’ve been observing various orphanages to see how they are run, so I’ve seen this quite a bit lately—they get to choose. And believe me,” he added with a frown, “I’ve seen them come in with a very fixed idea of what they’re looking for, with a kind of a laundry list of desirable characteristics. They wander up and down the wards, indicating the children they’d like to know more about, or else the director parades suitable ‘candidates’ before the prospective parents, pointing out their good and bad points as if they were on the auction block.” He stopped and took a deep breath. “It’s a pitiful system, to say the least, at least for the little ones. It’s very unnatural.
“The point I’m making is this: we’re all born once. Yet, like those unfortunate children who lack a family for whatever reason, we too are…separated from our Father. Scripture says, ‘There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.’ We, like them, must be ‘born again’ into a new family. And that is the family of God.
“God gives us life, and yet we stray from Him. We do what we want and live the way we choose. We certainly have nothing to commend us to Him as far as righteousness goes. We are not very suitable candidates. So His adoption of us isn’t ‘natural.’”
Their meals sat untouched as Morton Halsmith went on. “But still we seek ways in which to belong. Some of the orphans act badly to get noticed. Others act too sweet, like they’re trying to charm their way into your heart. Either way is heartbreaking. All they want is a little attention and love, for someone to take them in their arms and care for them.
“We adults have our ways to trying to earn our Heavenly Parent’s attention, only we’ve found more sophisticated ways to do it. We perform good works, we help our neighbors, we pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, all the while hoping that our ‘goodness’ will earn us God’s approval.
“But the Bible tells us that God regards all our good works as ‘filthy rags.’ It’s only because of His great love toward us that we can belong to Him. ‘God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.’
“Just like these orphaned boys and girls, when they find the family made just for them, they are ‘born again’ into another family, a forever family, we hope. And this is what God does for His lost and lonely ones: He takes us in.”
Buy links:
Comments