Last night my son showed me a picture in a world vision pamphlet and asked me what it was - "mummy it looks like he's in jail".... sudden heartbreak ....
Here is a photo of a child about the same age as my son, behind barbed wire, looking out, lost.
What do you say?
Suddenly my heart is torn, firstly for my son, I didn't want him exposed to this, I don't want to give him a truthful answer, I don't want him to be sad or feel hopeless, he's only 5. But suddenly mummy needs to talk to him, in a moment when his heart is vulnerable and soft, and help him to understand his feelings, help him to understand the fate of a child in slavery, nurture his compassion, and give him hope.
And all at once, the millions of children in slavery are my children, and I want to save every one of them.
I want to say "la-di-da, thats a funny picture, they must be playing a game" and protect him from the pain of knowing that children just like him are in prison, and that little is being done to help them.
So often we say "la-di-da" to ourselves and block our ears, giving the token offering that we can, or saying a token prayer.
But if we are to truly live a life of love, we need to open our hearts bigger. And if we truly want our children to really live in life and to really love, to grow up with open and big generous hearts, then they need to be exposed to pain and reality. But only if we have faith and hope to offer to them.
We can't afford to say "oh well, thats life, thats the way things are, theres not much you can do about it". That would kill the love and compassion in them for others. Children have a great capacity for love, compassion, sympathy. They know that they are loved and cared for, so they have moments where they would be happy to give everything away for someone in need. And we can't afford to take them from them.
If our children are going to be world changers, then they need to know about the world, they need to be given hope for the world, and we need to nurture their love and compassion.
When I speak to my children about the things that are happening in the world, it makes me accountable to them. I can't ignore the problems any longer, I am responsible to show them the way. I need to teach him to give, to give his love, to work hard, to give his money and most importantly to give his prayer. Because in prayer we find hope, and we remember that these children are God's children, that he loves them more than anyone does, and that he hears their prayers as they cry out for help. It keeps us honest and filled with faith that if we submit our hearts to God that he will find a way for us to help them.
Beautiful Sar. xxoo
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