A Heart Drawn on the Window

There are a million reasons why children have less-than-perfect childhoods.  Some of those reasons stretch back generations and others are due to selfish choices made by grown ups today. I’m not called to judge those issues or reasons, but I frequently find it painful and sad to view the effect on the kids.

Sometimes those situations tear my heart out.  I was engaged in a discussion on the front porch of a house that shelters four children aged 2 to 11.  The adults in their lives are broken, as I am, fragmented both by choices they have made and situations beyond their control.  The discussion was stressful.  The three smaller ones were sent in to watch Tom and Jerry.  Mom was seated facing the big living room window, as I was, while another child had her back to it.

A little face with huge green eyes appeared as the six year old wiggled her body under the curtain at the living room window.  The weather was warm and the window had fogged from the air conditioning inside.  Very carefully and very seriously she drew a huge heart in the condensation, looked solemnly out at her mother and pointed an index finger toward her.

If only we could do that.  If only we could try to pour love over the stress and the chaos, as she tried to do.  Right now, all I think that my little sweetheart should have to worry about is going down the slide.

“And a little child shall lead them.”  Isaiah 11:6

Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."     Mathew 19:14