Being a Mama Bird: being protective & seeing a need

Isn't it funny how you just feel protective of certain people? Those who seem to always get picked on or those who never seem to catch a break. I am. I can be very protective of others. Then again, there are those than I can turn away from, but they aren't the ones that need someone to stand up for them, are they? 

I had one such experience over the past week. I ran across a young lady that I had met almost 10 years ago and we started telling each other about our lives now. (She is now a mother of 2.) But she was telling me that they are just in a tight spot right now, the seasons are changing and her babies need warmer clothes since it's been getting a little chilly. This weighed on my heart for a few days and I finally couldn't help myself anymore. I asked her if she minded me picking some things up for them. Yesterday I got to see my heart's work. I dropped off the few long-sleeved shirts and little pants to her, and as she looked over the pieces, joy filled my heart and I could tell that we were both a little emotional. She told me that she appreciated this very, very much and gave me a big hug. This girl is one of my baby birds, that I feel the overwhelming need to keep an eye out for her. 

But then a thought comes in to my mind. That is what we are supposed to do for others. That is how we should be living. That is how the church should be working. Seeing after the widows, orphans, and those less-fortunate than ourselves, those who are hungry and thirsty, those who need clothed*. And I have to ask, am I doing that? Is my church doing that? What more could we do to make a difference, even a small difference? 
I think that is also one reason why we chose to go the adoption route, to think that there are children out there who are in desperate need of love and a family. 


* "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." James 1:27 NIV

"For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in..." Matthew 25:35 NIV