Prayer for the little children

While traveling in northern Pakistan several years ago, I took special care to visit girls’ schools throughout the region. I marveled at how determined and resolute these young women were to learn and to develop themselves. They truly wanted to make a difference in their country and the world. I also noticed the focused strength of the women I met throughout the country. They showed a quiet power, patient, yet burning, well-practiced, and poised.

The recent news of the unyielding flame of Malala Yousafzai is moving our global citizenry to honor the rights of women, as well as the qualities of love, purity, and mercy that inherently shine brightly in children. We are all children of the divine Mother, Love, the supreme Father, Truth. Safety and progress are the natural outcomes of accepting our spiritual childlikeness. Jesus said, “. . . unless you change your whole outlook and become like little children you will never enter the kingdom of Heaven” (J. B. Phillips, Matt. 18: 3-4).

The simplicity of such an innocent, spiritual outlook shows us limitless possibilities and gives us complete trust that because goodness comes from God and is protected by Him, it cannot be killed. The effort to silence Malala affords the opportunity for all of us, around the world, to take a closer look at our own God-given innocence and to recognize the fundamental innocence of others. Even those who perpetrate these crimes have a right to be perceived through God’s lens of spiritual innocence and goodness and to be free from the violence and hatred that lead to such appalling acts. We must not forget the spiritual child that is each of us.

Mary Baker Eddy wrote this verse for little children (Miscellaneous Writings, 400:12-18):

Father-Mother God,
Loving me,—
Guard me when I sleep;
Guide my little feet
Up to Thee.

A nineteenth-century religious reformer and Christian healer, Mrs. Eddy understood that the brightness inherent in each of us, our reflection of Christ, needs to be guarded and guided by God. The God who guards and guides each of us is not a warrior-like man in the sky, He is Life itself. The world is awakening to this truth of Deity, letting go of the limited, inaccurate belief in a vengeful God and ushering in the universal Principle, Love, that governs all nations, religions, cultures, and genders equally.

Let us pray this verse for the little children—for all of us as Love’s offspring—with our lives. Every time we marvel at the beauty of nature, do a good deed for someone, set aside judgment or opinion to express love, we pray. When we rise up against injustice, take moral stands, and be the change we want to see, we pray. Right now all of us, including Malala, are guarded, guided, and lifted up above ignorance and fear by holy thoughts winged with pure motives. Our determination never to stop watching and working for a better world ensures that the light of spiritual reality and freedom—knowing that God’s love for us makes anything possible—grows ever brighter in our daily lives and throughout the world.

by Michael Morgan

Posted on Wednesday, October 17th, 2012 at 10:25 pm | Follow responses with the RSS feed
Topics: Social activism, Womens Issues | Tags: Malala Yousafzai, medical emergency, medical treatment, shooting, solidarity, Taliban, world support