“Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them. . . .”

— Matthew 19:14

There’s a story about a missionary who, with his wife and children, were under house arrest in China. Then soldiers came one day and said, “You can return to America, and you can bring 200 pounds.”

They got out a scale and started weighing items to bring: books, a vase, a new typewriter. What about this? And that? They weighed and calculated, and finally they had exactly 200 pounds of luggage.

One of the soldiers asked, “Are you ready? Did you weigh every­thing?”

“Yes.”

“You weighed the kids?”

“No, we didn’t.”

“Weigh the kids.”

And quickly all of the stuff they had thought was important became trash.

More than a billion of the poorest people in the world today are children. That’s a sad statistic. And 20 percent of them live in so-called “developed” nations. Child poverty means lack of nutrition, vulnerability, inadequate shelter, poor health, and more. It results from many factors—lack of educational oppor­tunities, restrictive social norms, and more. The needs of children are often overlooked when political and economic decisions are made.

Jesus loves children. He rebuked his disciples when they tried to dismiss children who were brought to him. When we “weigh the kids” by taking seriously their needs and concerns, we honor them, and we honor Jesus too.

Jesus, teach us to be more like children, and more like you. Amen.