Help the Children
People were bringing little children to
Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them. When
Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let
the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God
belongs to such as these.” – Mark 10:13-14
She was standing outside the closed nursery room door.
Tears ran down her face as she sobbed.
Church members streamed through the hallway, not five
feet from where she stood. They noticed her, commented on it, but kept going. Sunday
school was about to start and they were scurrying up the stairs or down the
hall or waiting for the elevator. No one seemed to have time for a misplaced
three-year-old.
I headed over to her and immediately knelt down before
her. I knew the little girl, her parents, her grandparents. What I didn’t know
was how she’d managed to wander from her adults and find her way outside the
room that housed her baby brother.
I hugged her, said a few reassuring words, then opened
the nursery room door. The sweet ladies inside immediately came to help. They’d
had no idea she was outside. Once the little girl saw her brother and the other
1-year-olds, she stopped crying. Of course, she was welcome to stay there while
we located her family. (Her shocked grandfather was headed into the nursery
before I could leave to go find them.)
What amazed me was the number of adults who didn’t
want to be bothered, or get involved, in the tears of a small child. She was
someone else’s responsibility. She was someone else’s problem. Except she
belongs to all of us. Don’t we get that?
When children are welcomed into the church, we (the
congregation) vow to help raise them, to guide them, to care for them. Those
vows don’t say anything about only being available when it’s convenient, or
when the child is happy, or when we feel like it. We are to care for them
always.
Now, I certainly realize she wasn’t in danger. But she
was distraught. Shouldn’t that tug on the heartstrings of us all?
It’s not the first time I’ve stopped to help a child
who was lost. It really doesn’t take much time to call security, to dry tears,
to notify parents or a teacher. But it does take looking beyond ourselves.
Children are such wonderful people. They wear their
emotions outward for all to see. They haven’t yet learned to hide their tears,
to push down their fears, to quell their laughter. They are just real. I wish
we could all be more like that.
They also trust the adults in their world to look out
for them. She was alone because of miscommunication, with one thinking she was
with the other and vice versa. It happens. And, like I said, she was never in
danger. But she did need a helping hand. She needed someone to open the door,
to give her a hug, to find her adults.
I urge you to please never, ever walk on past a child
in distress. If you can’t help, notify someone who can. Call the police or
security. Notify a store clerk or a teacher. But don’t leave a vulnerable child
alone. Jesus would never have kept going while a little girl cried in distress.
Be Jesus. Take the time to help.
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