The Tender Soul
By Al Vester
The clay of the mind is soft and fine
In youth’s well watered garden.
Impressions hold both quick and bold
And soon the mold does harden.
Loving words add gentle curves
But hate is rough and jagged.
The rounded soul all joy beholds,
But shunned are the cold and cragged.
The tender soul will ever know
The path you have sought to guide him.
So teach with care those children dear,
You have power to free or bind them.
A Child’s Worth
To look into the face of a new born child is to see the greatest of all gifts in the lives of a young couple. The baby’s birth marks a life-changing milestone as they realize that they are now parents and responsible for the continued existence and growth of this new little infant. What are their hopes for this helpless little bundle of possibilities? Do they dream of this child becoming a president or prime minister, or an influential leader in the world? Most wise parents simply hope that their little ones will become a healthy adult full of wisdom, kindness, and love, and blessed with little ones of their own.
It only takes a little while for parents to realize that every child is a unique individual with their own likes and dislikes, and their own distinct personality. We can never know exactly how a child will develop and what impact they will have on our world. Each child comes with gifts and talents that can lift humanity if they are given the opportunity. Even the seemly ordinary child has the potential to become great at something. Albert Einstein was considered a slow learner because he tended to think in pictures rather than in words, but his visualization of time and space has changed our view of the universe.
However, most children only achieve a small fraction of their potential because of the social environments in which they grow up. Some societies use children as cheap labor for working in mines, mills, and factories. Others treat their children as inconvenient burdens that should be “seen and not heard.” Yet every human life is a marvelous work and a wonder. We start life as helpless as a larva, not just for a few days like an insect, but for months before learning to crawl, then walk, and then run. But the learning process never stops; it continues on throughout our lives. Many animals can do something better than a human, but none have the flexibility to do all that a human can do. Boys and girls can learn to run, swim, climb, use tools, work independently or in groups, and solve problems in ways unsurpassed by any other creature on our planet.
Why then, do we judge a child by their social status instead of their future potential? We cannot know if the premature death of a child will mean the world will have lost a great leader, writer, peace-maker, or scientific genius. If a bright child dies, one with the ability to think of new ideas, their ideas die also. It may be years or even decades before another child appears who is able to envision the same ideas. In a perfect world, every child would have an opportunity for an education and for opportunities of self-expression in positive and constructive ways. However, just because our world is not perfect is no reason that we should not strive to develop the potential of each and every child. The potential of each child is such as to make him or her worth more than piles of gold or chests filled with diamonds. They are each a heritage from God (see Psalms 127:3).
I close this article with a quote by Lisa Wingate: “Your children are the greatest gift God will give to you, and their souls the heaviest responsibility He will place in your hands. Take time with them, teach them to have faith in God. Be a person in whom they can have faith. When you are old, nothing else you’ve done will have mattered as much.
