THE CHILD-HEART

Children are amazing; magnetically interesting. The pure fascination of children impresses upon our hearts the God-nature implanted into human beings from the get-go. One of the great sweetnesses of little children is their oblivious willingness to care-freely give.

Kids don't know a dollar from twenty. But in their early stages they are willing to give it all away. If not careful, we parents will train them to hoard.

I saw this in my three when they were 5, 6, and 7. God was grooming them. Plus, their mom took them with her every Sunday morning at 7:20 and every Wednesday night at 6:15 on the Joy Bus to pick up the poor children in housing projects. The kids came home telling tales of stark sadness of their little friends on the bus who didn't have enough of something....usually food.

This experience caused my kids to want to give things, including dollars, away. I tried to never train them to restrict their hearts. I would let them give what they thought. It would be important to let them grow up believing giving hearts were to be a necessary part of adulthood.

It is more important to teach children the value of giving than the value of a dollar. Adults need to learn from the kids in many situations....not the reverse.

Children have an ability to sense need of the moment. They see opportunity and delight in participating. On our annual Missions Day at Memorial every first Sunday in May, one of my favorite times is watching all the kids flock to the stage to empty their coins into the shiny red wagon. They are overjoyed to make their contributions.

The child-heart is a wonderful thing. It is that part of divinity in men and women God is perpetually urging to transcend us backward....to be more like we once were. The child-heart is that golden moment of time where we remember one more time---whether 19 or 91---to revert to that pliable thinking that people matter more than possessions.

Good for us when we feel seven again!