How do we recieve the children?

Mark 9:34-37 -- "He [Jesus] sat down and called the twelve. . . .And he took a child and put him in the midst of them, and taking him in his arms, he said to them, ‘Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.’"

If we want to know how we are doing in our quest to follow and become like Jesus, one thing we can use as a litmus test is this, "How do we relate to children?" According to Mark, if we recieve children, we recieve Jesus, and if we recieve Jesus, we recieve God. Therefore, how we feel about children is a good indication about the condition of our relationship with God. Something is deeply wrong with a soul that won't condescend to love children...to hold a child in its arms.

According to the newest International Labor Organization report, "the end of child labor is within reach." Highlights of the report include the following: "...between 2000 and 2004 the number of child workers worldwide fell from 246 million to 218 million... The number of children aged 5-17 doing hazardous work saw an even steeper decline, from 171 million in 2000 to 126 million in 2004."

Apparently the primary contributing factors to the decline are increased political will, awareness, poverty reduction and mass education. This report should cause Christians to both rejoice, and to anxiously press forward. Director-General Somavia said, "In this 21st century, no child should be brutalized by exploitation or be placed in hazardous work, no child should be denied access to education. No child should have to slave for his or her survival. Let's keep up the momentum. Let's resolve to keep investing in the struggle for the right of all children to their childhood." AMEN! How are you recieving the children?