Isaiah 11:6b – A little child will lead them. (NIV)

"Take this to your mother to hold in her hands," the little girl said.

This little girl stood out at the front of a group of much taller children who had just come into our inner-city mission. I was surprised to see her again so soon. She had been with us the previous day when we had taken her age group out for an after-school swim at a local pool.

And when we had returned to the mission to have a Bible story with cocoa and cookies, I had told these young children that I planned to drive out to the country after the next day's club to visit my mother who was very sick. Then these small children had included a prayer for my mother among their brief prayers of "Thank You, God, for the cookies," "Thank You for the story and the swim," and "Thank You, God, for my grandmother."

But now, this little girl, with her long dark hair and oval face so serious, was standing close in front of me. "Take this to your mother to hold in her hands," she said. And I saw, in her small brownish hand, a little yellow star cut from school art paper. I put it in my pocket while thanking her sincerely. And she went on her way satisfied.

I did take that star to my mother, and I told her about the little girl and her request. And my mother, so ill after major surgery that she understood little beyond a child's star and a child's love, held it in her hands as she lay there so still.

Gradually, my mother recovered and lived on for six relatively good years. Yet once more, I saw that little star: My mother, with her hair so white, sat at her kitchen table fingering through a box of her get-well cards and such treasures –- it must have been one of her last years — and there it was! It had not gone the way of the hospital's disposal bin.

But why does that star still strike me so poignantly? Maybe it's that it holds out a challenge to us all to be like that little child — so pliantly open to the leading of our Lord's Spirit as just naturally to do the fitting thing.

Romans 8:14 – Those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. (NIV)

Prayer: Lord Jesus, You were once a little child, and You grew up to say, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these" (Matthew 19:14 NIV). Keep us remembering that Your Spirit always guides in the way of Your grace and the principles of Your Word of truth and love. Amen.

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