Last Night one of our local teams advanced to the Little League World Series. Their win made the evening news, complete with a highlight clip of a solo home run by one of the team's oldest members, a 12-year-old shortstop named Gordie Lockbaum.

It's a great accomplishment for these kids. And like anything worthwhile, it must have taken talent and hard work to get to the World Series. And coaching by people who believed in the kids enough to help them reach their potential.

Children are capable of so much. I remember once hiring my nephew (then about 14 years old) to tutor me in math as I prepared to take the GMAT, a standard exam required for entrance to business school. My math skills were very rusty, and his were excellent. So I flew him in from Minneapolis and paid him to tutor me for a few days in algebra. He took the job seriously, preparing a lesson plan in advance, and I had to work hard to keep up. His efforts paid off, too. I did well enough on the test to be accepted into the program of my choice.

My wife's oldest brother was just seven or eight years old when he saw a clear solution to a tough problem his parents were facing. The family's finances were at a low point. Three major appliances all needed to be replaced at once—the refrigerator, stove, and washing machine. And their old car was sitting at the curb, not drivable. They couldn't even afford to have it towed away.

The boy suggested a solution: Sell the car, and buy the needed appliances with the proceeds from the sale. They rejected his idea—concluding that he was just too young to realize that the car had no value.

But within a short time, a man came to the door and asked about the car. He lived in a neighboring town, had seen it parked on the street, and was interested in that exact model. He asked if the family would be willing to barter for the car. He owned an appliance store in the next town, and suggested they come to the store to select some of his products in exchange for the vehicle. When they did, they modestly picked out one appliance. But he insisted that the car was worth more, and before they left, they had a refrigerator, stove, and washing machine.

Some friends told me that after a house-hunting trip, their 13-year-old saw clearly that one home in particular was right for their family. Based on this, they made an offer on the property and bought it, despite the financial stretch. That was more than 35 years ago. They still live in that home, and its value has increased by multiples since then.

Just last week I heard about a grandmother who got into some poisonous vegetation while gardening. It evidently had the effect of partially paralyzing her. She asked her grandson to pray for her. He did, quickly. When she still couldn't move, she asked him to continue to pray. So he prayed that God is Love, and that Love was loving his grandma. I heard that he prayed: "Thank you God for making my grandma perfect." It was a simple prayer, the prayer of a child. It broke the grip of paralysis, and she was healed.

In an often-told New Testament story, Jesus fed a multitude of more than 5,000 by blessing and distributing five loaves and two fish. With slight variations, this story appears in each of the four gospels. But St. John's account uses this language to describe what Jesus' disciples told him that day: "There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes."

"There is a lad here...." To me, this suggests that a child was not only present at the event, but also alert to the need at hand. And that the child believed that his contribution had value and was worth offering. And that Jesus had no qualms about using the lad's contribution to solve the entire problem.

Why underestimate or dismiss the contribution of children? Why shield them from the facts? Their receptivity to God's goodness is a powerful asset in any situation. Children should be valued, encouraged, nurtured, respected, and heard. After all, they express the wisdom, clarity, and intelligence that God gives each of us.