Everywhere I look I see the "scattering" of children... as the result of divorce or broken relationships where the mom and dad were not married; children of parents who realize that they don't really want to step up to the responsibility of raising children, so they leave; children being raised by relatives or foster parents; and, children removed from the home because of lack of care or abuse...
Today many children do not feel secure, are not being emotionally nurtured, maybe don't have sufficient nutrition, etc., If they don't have a solid foundation, how can they be anything but confused as they mature and try to find solid guidelines for their own lives? How will they learn to love and be kind if they are rejected or just "get lost in the shuffle" some way.
I knew a couple whose six-year old daughter had no expression in her eyes. Her eyes looked totally blank. She and her brother played with my children, but this girl was different. I later learned that her mother didn't like children. Now this story had a peculiar twist. The mother and dad had some friends who didn't have any children, but this woman really cared for the girl and boy. So these two couples decided to exchange partners. Both couples divorced and then remarried each others' mates.
The end of this story is that the children blossomed because their new mother loved and nurtured them. And it was then that the girl began to have expression in her eyes. The blankness previously in the girl's eyes was from total lack of love.
Also, there was a young boy in our mobile park who had lost one of his parents, and the other parent didn't want him. So he came to live with his grandparents. But then he got in a little trouble in our park, and management said he had to leave. But the grandparents couldn't afford to sell their home and move. I have wondered many times what happened to that young boy.
We surely need to pray for today's children and treat them kindly wherever we see them... it may be the only kindness they will know, and it might be a saving grace for them at some point in their lives...
"But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven."
Matthew 19:14 KJV
© 2012 Arlene Schwartzkopf