Reckless Love

This song has been stuck in my head for the past month. Somewhere around the 25th time I listened to the song on Spotify, I had a realization – foster care love is reckless love. The love that a foster parent has for a child in their home doesn’t make sense to many people. They don’t understand how we can so deeply love a child that may leave our lives forever. They say that they could never be a foster parent because they would get too attached and wouldn’t be able to say goodbye. They might feel like it’s unhealthy for our kids to be exposed to the trauma that kids in foster care have experienced. They don’t get it. Some people think that loving a child in foster care is dangerous, foolish, and reckless. Reckless literally means ‘without thinking or caring about the consequences of an action.’ Foster parents are fully aware of the consequences of their choice to help children from hard places. They know that heartbreak, difficulty, and loss are likely – but they are willing to take the risk.

In talking about his motivation for writing the song (Which starts at 5:35 of the video), Cody Asbury says that he used the term reckless love because “He [God] is utterly unconcerned with the consequences of his actions with regard to his own safety, comfort, and well-being.” He adds that “His love doesn’t consider Himself first – it isn’t selfish or self-serving. He doesn’t wonder what he will gain or lose by putting himself on the line. He simply puts himself out there, on the off chance that you and I might look back at him and give him that love in return.” “There’s no plan B with the love of God. He gives his heart so completely, so preposterously that if refused, we would think it irreparably broken, yet he gives himself away again and again and again and again time and time again.”

Foster parents demonstrate the love of Jesus to children who may have never experienced healthy love of any kind. They do so knowing full well that they may not be loved in return, and the day may come where the child is no longer a part of their lives. They don’t let the fear and uncertainty and pain affect the ferocious love that they have for children in their home. The best foster parents are ones who don’t regard their own feelings as important. They are the ones who understand that the goal of foster care is reunification, and that means that if it all goes according to plan they will experience the grief and loss of a child leaving their home. At Thornwell we want foster parents who will love recklessly – who will not let the fear of the future affect their love in the present. We want to educate, train, and support you to do all of those things. We have all been there, done that, and are passionate about helping you to experience and share that reckless love as well.