Article August 20, 2001 Issue

Opening our hearts to children

Praying for the world's children

By Rosalie E. Dunbar

About Ten Years Ago I was backing out of the driveway on my way to work, when I saw a little girl running down the street in my direction. I knew she was heading for the school at the end of the street because the children pass my house every day—laughing, talking, running. For some reason, this child caught my full attention. It was winter, but her coat was wide open. She looked exhausted, anxious, and very, very alone.

That image stayed with me for some time during the day, nagging at me. It demanded that I do something. I knew that many children in the apartment complex next to where I live were left pretty much on their own. Parents seemed to notice them only to scream at them from the windows. Petty vandalism affected the whole neighborhood, and the kids from the complex were routinely blamed.

Maybe there wasn't a lot I could do. But I could, and did, pray. My prayers were simple affirmations that God loved all of His children, including those who physically seemed to be adults. I knew that this divine Love had the power to direct the children to intelligent and good activities, and also to bring out parental love that would support their progress. I kept in mind Jesus' love for little children and his conviction that childlike innocence would lead us all to the "kingdom of heaven." It was interesting to think of us all being joined together in the family of God, everyone's Father and Mother—mine, the children's and their parents'.

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