in the humble smiles of children

Is there anything more beautiful than a grubby faced princess with a snotty nose, grinning up at you with little more than two teeth in her whole head? She runs or dances or screams in a dramatic ploy to catch your eye – she wants to show you her new haircut (courtesy of lice). She loves it when you smile at her, when you praise her; when you listen to her explain how she made her valentine’s card. She tries to remember the Fruits of the Spirit simply so she’ll have a few moments of your undivided attention – and maybe a prize. She feels beautiful when you watch her. She feels safe when you listen to her. She treasures her notebook, her prize. And all the while – she beams that broad, beautiful rainbow of a grin... just for you. And you didn’t even earn it.

Is there anything more heartbreaking than acts of violence against this blessed treasure – a diamond in our inner city rough, this sacred child God loves? Is there anything more horrible than whatever causes these beloved children of God to cry, to suffer, to go without, to see so much?

You want to hold them, take them home, protect them, love them. But you are the child. They are the adults. They know the way the world works, and you my friend are a stranger in a foreign land. So you watch them cry…you watch them suffer…and you wait. And you do nothing.

How can we rouse the quick, radiant smiles of these toothless angels?

How can we keep them safe from the dangerous world that wants to hurt them, the dangerous world that we created?