IT WAS A LITTLE CHILD

(These thoughts are added to three times weekly and cover a multitude of different subjects and insights)

I caught a glimpse of heaven today. It shone like a bright and winsome morning star.
It was a little child.

I saw it first in those first sleepy moments of awakening when those new blue eyes met the beginning day with a smile.

It continued through a breakfast of cereal, cold milk and giggles.

It tugged at my heart as I watched this child of mine walk the free streets of a free land on the way to school.

So much to learn. So much to learn.

I watched the unmarred vessel of God’s creation,
listened to the tinkling voice of hope, felt the glow of the treasury of dreams for
a magic land of brighter tomorrows.

I thought about the heritage of every new young life –
A backyard sand pile becomes an Everest;
A front-yard mailbox a guide stone on some African expedition;
And the shade of the old willow tree a mansion for a potentate and his queen.

This is a child: a tear followed by a million more,
But as quickly followed by a smile.

An anger that screams defiance but manages in the brevity of a moment
the deity of forgiveness.

This is a child, not yet fallen heir to the
dubious gift of adult despair.

By the child is the teacher taught.
Upon this tender package of God’s affection is placed maturity;
but first the child touches with simplicity our cluttered souls,
seeks to unwind our troubled hates,
points to God’s squadron of daily miracles against
the most troubled skies.

I will grow older, maybe wiser.
I will look up and pray a thousand times and a thousand more.
I will move further and further from that day when I, too,
was new to earth, and I can but hope I will always
both teach and learn at the feet of a child.