Once when I was sick enough to die, I received a gift—a pillowcase. A special friend of mine had gathered her children around a simple pillowcase and written Scripture on it that was chosen by the children, just for me. I slept with that gift the whole time until I was healed.

Because she understands this one thing: the future belongs to children, so she is most intentional about raising hers.

I’ve attended Holy Communion at her neighbor’s house, and it was served to us, the adults, by the children. Have you ever reached for the elements and heard the sacred words of Jesus whispered over you by a child?

A fireplace roiled warmth nearby, as if my sin could be tossed into the all-consuming heart of God so easily, returning my soul once and for all to the innocence of a child. But that is the whole Gospel.

The future has very little to do with the political bickering that’s taking place now. The people in charge are a vapor.

What comes next belongs to the children, the people who are in our care right this minute.

Second to the elderly, children are our most important citizens, because they’re absorbing our courage, our fear, our wisdom, our foolishness, our headlines, our bedtime stories, our habits…

They’re being shaped by our hands, and as we shape a child, we help shape a nation.

To put out a fire, you can’t aim at the flames; you have to aim at the source. To rebuild our nation, we can’t keep hosing each other with insults. We have to heal from the ground up, beginning with the children.

Everything else is a distraction and waste.

If we sincerely want to do something revolutionary, we can raise our children to create the world they deserve so when the generation after us asks what was our greatest contribution to the future, we can answer, I raised you. That’s an answer we can be proud of.

Raising humans filled with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control is only possible with God. Only His Spirit can do that to a person.

But we have to let Him do it to us first.

When you weary of worrying and arguing with people who don’t care, pull your children close, and let the sacred work of healing their world begin in your home. Faith, hope, and love still change the world from the inside out.

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He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

~ Micah 6:8