In my files I have something called "What You Can Learn From
a Young Child." It says it was written by the mother of a young
child, but she is not otherwise identified. When you hear what
she says, it is obvious she could be virtually EVERY mother.
- A king-size waterbed holds enough water to fill a 2000
square foot house four inches deep.
- A three-year old's voice is louder than 200 adults in a
crowded restaurant.
- If you hook a dog leash over a ceiling fan, the motor is not
strong enough to rotate a 42 pound boy wearing Batman
underwear and a superman cape. It is strong enough,
however, if tied to a paint can, to spread paint on all four
walls of a 20 by 20 foot room.
- When you hear the toilet flush and the words "Uh-oh," it's
already too late.
- "Play Dough" and "microwave" should never be used in the
same sentence.
- No matter how much Jell-O you put in a swimming pool you
still can't walk on water.
- VCR's do not eject peanut butter and jelly sandwiches even
though TV commercials show them doing it.
- Garbage bags do not make good parachutes.
- The spin cycle on the washing machine does not make earth
worms dizzy. It will, however, make cats dizzy. Cats throw
up twice their body weight when dizzy.
Yes, there is a lot we can learn from kids. No doubt that
is why Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, anyone who will not
receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter
it."(1)
It is easy for us to forget that Jesus came to us as a
child. We are always reminded of that at Christmas, yet during
the rest of the year the significance of a child as the Savior is
usually lost on most of us. During his adult ministry, Jesus
welcomed children. He welcomed them in a time and place when
children had little value and were easily ignored or dismissed.
And it was more than a pat on the head, "How are you doing," type
of greeting. Jesus stopped what he was doing, opened his arms,
and embraced and blessed the children. Jesus' compassion for
children is the basis for our faith-based child advocacy.
Truth be told, our society today talks a good game of love,
care and teaching children, but talk is often where it stops.
Children in America in 2005 are more at risk than they have been
in years. Listen to the numbers:
In our nation today, almost 13 million children are living
in poverty. That is an increase of more than one million in the
last five years. More than five and a half million children...
AMERICAN children... endure extreme poverty.(2)
In our nation today, nine million children do not have
health insurance, although 90 percent of them have parents who
work. Infant mortality in America has increased for the first
time in 44 years, and this nation with its vaunted "best medical
care in the world," now lags behind 22 other countries in keeping
babies alive in their first year of life.
Although children's brains develop most rapidly in the first
three years of life, only one in three eligible children is
enrolled in Head Start, which some of our nation's leaders are
proposing to dismantle despite the fact that this is the single
most successful anti-poverty initiative in history. Millions
more children lack quality child care and preschool education
experiences and begin school not ready to learn.
In our nation, a child is abused or neglected every 35
seconds, and infants and toddlers are the most likely to be
harmed. Four out of 10 abused and neglected children get no help
at all.
In our nation, last year the richest one percent of
Americans reaped 54 percent of the total from two tax cuts while
the middle class got far less, and the poor got none. The gap
between rich and poor in America has grown to the widest point
ever. Yet our leaders proposed to freeze, cut, or dismantle
numerous child investments.
In our rich nation, where $1,000 may buy you a seat at a
politician's fund-raising banquet, more than half a million
children are hungry and 13 million do not know when their next
meal will be or if they will get enough to eat.
In 1993, our Presbyterian Church's General Assembly adopted
A Vision for Children and the Church. It called for a "Year of
the Child," that soon was acknowledged as woefully inadequate and
became the "Decade of the Child." That is why the child advocacy
office of the Presbyterian Church (USA) exists today - to
continually remind the church that if we are truly to follow
Jesus and welcome children, we had better be aware of their
unique needs, and we had better be aware of the situations that
put them at risk. Caring adults will make the difference.
"Then little children were brought to Jesus for him to place
his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked
those who brought them. Jesus said, 'Let the little children
come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven
belongs to such as these.'"
In the name of the Jesus who loves children, what are YOU
willing to do?
Amen.
1. Mark 10:15
2. This and the following statistics are from the Children's Defense Fund, Washington, DC,
National Observance of Children's Sabbath Manual, pp. 201-202
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