Valuing children of all ages

It was a typical day at work, with one welcome exception. Much-needed help had arrived! The company regularly employed temporary workers, usually student interns from college, to help out during the summer months. This time the temporary worker assigned to our department was unlike any we had previously employed. He could easily have been someone's grandfather.

We found him to be as enthusiastic and helpful as any worker in the department. He jumped at the opportunity to run any errand or do any task that needed doing. In addition to being humble and willing to help, there was something else about this man's contribution to the department that made his brief stay with us so pleasant. It was his childlike innocence. Not in the sense of being inexperienced or naive, but of being uncorrupted. He had a gentle manner even in the most stressful of circumstances; he was interested in the welfare of others, never indifferent to their needs; and he maintained a very hopeful outlook on life. He was always a joy to have around.

Innocence, enthusiasm, humility, are qualities often associated with children. And so when people talk about the need for society to value and protect children and the good they represent, I can't help thinking of my co-worker friend as much as I do of preschool or school-age children. Childlikeness in anyone is of enormous value. Those who are childlike, Christ Jesus said, are "greatest in the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 18:4 ).

Jesus also had strong words for those who would offend children. He said, "Whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea" (Matt. 18:6 ). Sad to say, society seems many times to turn its back on that message. How often the world can look like such an offensive place. We're all familiar with the tragic impact of violence, exploitation, and neglect on human lives. So how do we begin to purify such an atmosphere and make the world a more child-friendly place, where childlike qualities are valued and can flourish?

One place to start is with ourselves, and with the recognition that the good qualities associated with children are inherent in everyone. Indifference to and abuse of these qualities is unnatural to man—totally foreign to him—because man is the image and likeness of God, expressing the purity of the divine nature. It's the so-called mortal, carnal mentality that would corrupt and attempt to tear down whatever represents innocence, purity, goodness. To purify, then, a mental atmosphere that would belittle Godlike qualities, it's essential to detach evil from man, to see it as impersonal, as an imposition on humanity of this unreal, carnal mind, which St. Paul said is "enmity against God" (Rom. 8:7 ).

The truth that man's being is inviolably Godlike, purely spiritual, not material, is one of the most important things to know about ourselves and others. Pure goodness is intact and always present to be expressed—by a grandfather or a teenager just as powerfully as by a young child. One's ability to overcome the sins and limits of the so-called carnal mind, which oppose goodness, is rooted in this knowledge. And understanding the truth of man's being as the child of God destroys the belief in a carnal mentality.

Guarding against indifference to innocence and purity is a crying need because it can seem all too easy to brush aside the facts of man's pure being and to lose sight of our responsibility to nurture and promote Godlike virtues. Christian Science explains the basis for a strong defense, reminding us of the spiritual origin of existence and affirming that the real nature of every man, woman, and child reflects divine Love. Christian Science refutes the false belief that man is both carnally-minded and spiritually-minded; that sometimes he is pure and innocent, but at other times it is natural for him to be drawn away from spirituality to materialism and sensuality.

Defending one's thought against the inclination to forsake spiritual good for the sake of materialistic aims requires prayer and alertness. The prayer that constantly acknowledges one creator, one all-loving God, and that affirms the birthright of God's creation to be the very expression of Spirit and Love, nurtures goodness and promotes spiritual growth. Let's be vigorous in refusing to accept the falsity that such a way of life is out of sync with the "real" world; that innocence, for instance, is characteristic only of young children; that purity is a liability forcing people to miss out on the good things in life; that today's world can't help but corrupt good men, women, and children.

That simply isn't so. The truth is, the world has no power to corrupt or crush out spirituality. Instead, those who understand the source and power of Godlike qualities show, by their inspiring example of progressively healthier and happier lives, that the nature and power of Spirit enable one to conquer sin, to heal sickness, and to live a fulfilling life.

Mary Baker Eddy recognized the immeasurable value and power of the Godlike virtues of children. In her Miscellaneous Writings, she offers this encouraging instruction to children of all ages (p. 110 ): "Beloved children, the world has need of you,—and more as children than as men and women: it needs your innocence, unselfishness, faithful affection, uncontaminated lives. You need also to watch, and pray that you preserve these virtues unstained, and lose them not through contact with the world. What grander ambition is there than to maintain in yourselves what Jesus loved, and to know that your example, more than words, makes morals for mankind!"