I remember so well a lesson taught me by a small child many years ago.  She was an adorable little girl with a smile which lit up her face and radiated to all with whom she came in contact. I know I felt as if I wanted to hug her and never let go. And yet this little girl was living in a shelter with her Mommy and her  three younger siblings. They had been through a very difficult and frightening time and their Mommy had finally found the courage to leave their Daddy  who was abusive and cruel to her, and  who had even begun to turn his anger and brutality toward his children. This had finally caused her to find the courage to take her  precious children and leave their home and ask for help. They had nothing but the clothes on their backs and one another.

I was talking to her Mommy when I overheard the ten year old girl say to another child ... "Oh, we have a home ... We just need a house to put it in."  Those words went through me like a laser. This little girl was wiser by far than many of the adults I knew. She knew that the love they shared  was  home ... not  the bricks and mortar and  all that goes with it. I found myself thinking ' this little angel  has been taught well and knows she is loved and that everything else is only window dressing. What a wonderful Mother she is blessed to have ! ' I fell in love with that wise little girl right then and there. And the respect I felt for her Mother was increased tenfold. Watching my new little friend with her brother and sisters and seeing the affection which she exhibited toward them so naturally as she helped Mommy to explain  how they were beginning a new life together was a privilege. That family may have been going through a life changing experience but they  were together and the love that family shared was an abundance of riches.

 That is all children really need. To know they are loved. Isn't that true of all of us ? And why is it so hard for some to understand that if they love their children, and  their children know in that love they will find safety and  security,  their children will deal with anything that may come along  just as long as they have one another. To deprive a child of that certainty is perhaps the greatest cruelty one can perpetrate and one which is inconceivable to anyone who has ever looked into the eyes of a vulnerable, frightened child who is unloved and alone.

 Someone once said " Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking outside your body."  It's an awesome responsibility and a joy beyond compare but it should definitely only be undertaken if you are prepared to live up to the commitment  and the challenge.