As you may know, I’m childless. I have never had the privilege and honor to be a parent. I have had the honor to care for a few dogs and one cat in my life. Sadly, my last dog wandered off, and since that time I’m not only childless, but pet-less too.
I’ve said this to say, it is an honor when we are entrusted to care for another living being. This honor is not without its challenges, but it is the opportunity to hold in one’s hand a special and unique creation of God. In part, we are interacting with a part of God.
Children are special. Not that older people aren’t, but children have a new imprint on them. They are growing and learning, but they still possess a part of the mystery and wonder of God that has been unfiltered and not polluted by the world.
There is a story of a little girl and her baby brother. The mother noticed the little girl spending a lot of time in the nursery with her little brother. You have to pay attention to little children when in the presence of infants because there is always the potential for the child to accidentally harm the baby. Anyway, the mother noticed the little girl was not in sight, so she made her way to the nursery to see if she was there. As she approached the room, she heard a muffled voice. As she peeked in the room, she saw her little girl with her face very close to the baby, and the little girl said, “Baby, please tell me quickly about God, I’m starting to forget.”
Children are a gift like no other from God. Created and given to us to cherish and remind ourselves of God’s awesome love and creative power.
In Psalm 127:3 we read, “Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one’s youth.”
We are encouraged in Proverbs 22:6, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it”.
Finally, in Matthew 18:2-5, we are told what Jesus says about how all of us are to be more child-like. “He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said: ‘Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.’”
Definitely, children are God’s love in the flesh. We should care for them, we should teach them, we should protect them, and we should help them live out the part of God that is in them.
This past week, we lost our Child Development Center Director, Laura Lynch. Laura didn’t have children of her own, but she had a love and affection for helping children to learn, grow and mature. She gave of herself to so many children. She embodied the saying in Proverbs of starting children off in the way they should go. Its an important task, maybe the most important of all. I’ve heard it said, “Children are our future.” There is some truth in that, but not only are they our future, they are also our present. Each moment we spend with a child is more precious than we can know. Children remember those who impact their lives. I know there are a great many children who are going to not only remember Laura, but who will grow into great images of the God who created them because of all she did for and with them.
I suppose, being childless isn’t such a sad thing, it just means those of us who don’t have children of our own, have a unique place we can occupy in the lives of other’s children. We can encourage, dote on, give praise to, and even bless their lives in very special ways. We are all a part of the village and share in the effort to raise “our” children. We have a stake in the future of our world, and even those without children, can and do have an impact on the future.
Your companion on the Way,
Pastor Tom