Searching for Higher Thinking about Racial Relationships

Yesterday I drove down to get the mail. As I drove back home, I passed a little black girl who lives in our neighborhood. She waved an exuberant hello as I drove past, and I returned the wave. She made me smile. That’s when children came to mind.

Children!

I’ve been thinking like an adult for the last year, listening and learning and praying intensely, to understand race relations in our country. Fancy, big-people words like “critical race theory” and “convergence theory” and “reparations” have become part of my vocabulary.

But what about children?

During the school year, I teach Bible to third and fourth graders. Over the years, I’ve learned to choose my vocabulary carefully. I don’t water down the Scriptures, but I explain biblical precepts with simple language that kids understand. The benefit of this is that it forces me to absorb large concepts about God and life into my own heart and then work to funnel them into child-sized language.

You would be delighted to see the hunger children have to know the truth of God’s word. You would be shocked to hear the clear and brilliant thinking of children, when it comes to real-life issues.