"Where is God when the world is falling to pieces?"

When I thought about what to blog about after today’s class, I looked back at the poetry and the discussion that took place in class and I realize that there is so much pain going on in our world today. In Professor Corrigan’s piece that he wrote he states, “…Where is God when the world is falling to pieces”. Though this is an important question for all of us to sit on, the more important question that I have to ask myself is, how am I going to change the fact that the world is falling to pieces? The fact that children are dying in other countries of starvation and disease breaks my heart. But what are WE DOING TO CHANGE THIS?

4 years ago my family embarked on a journey that changed our lives forever, the adoption of my baby sister from China. After many years of waiting, Sasha was finally brought home and I finally got to take this precious gem that I carried in my heart for almost 3 years into my arms and love her. Last Thanksgiving, our second Thanksgiving celebration with our precious Sasha, I wrote this poem about her:

I always wanted a sister

To play with and have fun

I never knew in 18 years

My dream would finally come

I knew that she would look like me

Blonde hair and blue eyes too

But the little one God sent to us

Was not what I thought I knew

This little ones eyes were not like mine

They weren't big, blue and round

But small, dark, and almond shaped

Are the little eyes I found

This little one that is my sister

She came from afar

She didn't come unhurt and clean

But rather with many scars

I did not wait only 9 short months

And shed just a few tears.

For I cried many days and nights

And waited almost 3 long years.

But once that baby was in my arms

I knew she was finally safe

She not only got a warm place to sleep

But more than that, a family we gave.

So as I sit here and think

Holding this angel of mine

I realize that 4 years ago

This was just a small dream, in the back of my mind.

And I realize more each and every day

These dreams are meant to be

Lived out in our everyday lives

For us and others to see

So the next time you lose a dream

And shove it to the back of your mind

Dig for that dream, look for it again

For it is something you must find

Maybe these dreams are not to be left

Forgotten, and set aside

Perhaps God gave us these dreams

As a very special guide

For my dream may have seemed small

Or impossible to meet

But because this little dream in my heart

Our family is finally complete.

-Mikelle Liette

November 29, 2008

You see, it is easy to get overwhelmed with all of the darkness in our world. We have the desire to make a difference, but often, because the darkness seems so impossible to fix, we merely sit back, and watch destruction happen before our very eyes, just like Allen Ginsberg demonstrated in his poem “Howl”.

So my question to you, is what does your heart break for, and what how are YOU going to begin to heal that pain in someone else’s life?