Out of the Mouths of Babes

Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infantsYou have ordained strength, Because of Your enemies, That You may silence the enemy and the avenger (Ps. 8:2, Matt 21:12-17)

I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children (Matt. 11:25)

The Washington Post reported renently that eminent child psychiatrist Robert Coles passed away on June 4. I want to take a moment to honor his life and work. I also want to call attention to the work of Norman Rockwell, who masterfully used painting to tell stories. Rockwell was a master at telling compelling stories in one frame.

Many readers will be too young to remember Coles’ writing about 6-year-old Ruby Bridges who had to be escorted by U.S. Marshalls past a raging mob of White parents as she integrated a school in Mississippi. Coles, a northerner who had never witnessed such brutal racial animosity, interviewed the child to find out how she managed to cope with such threats. A teacher reported that Ruby said something to the people who spat at her and shook their fists at her.

When Coles asked the first-grader about this, she replied she wasn’t talking to the people in question. She was talking to God. She said she was praying for these people. When he asked her why, she replied “Don’t you think they need praying for?”