“Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world.
Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight.
Jesus loves the little children of the the world.”
I grew up singing this song nearly every day at daycare when I was a child. It was a regular part of our ‘choir’ portion of the day from age 3 to 7 or so. We sang it so often that I still know all the lyrics by heart, and I can still picture our teacher standing at the front of the class leading us in it, chorus after chorus, mouth along to the words so we could learn them as we went.
I also remember that there wasn’t a single child in my class that was any color but white.
For some reason, this song popped back into my this morning, followed by the thought above. It’s never occurred to me before that at a young age, I was learning that in God’s eyes, we were all loved and equal, but while we were hearing that message, nothing in my life replicated any friends or kids in my class of any different race, nation or tongue.
That’s not anyone’s fault; it’s just a bit ironic.
At the time, it felt easy to sing a song about how God loves everyone, all over the world, no matter what anyone looks like, while not seeing anyone from any different background other than my own in front of me. I wasn’t exposed to anyone red, yellow or black, nor was I exposed to anyone from any different part of town. Granted, I was only three years old when I was singing the song, but it still makes me think.
I’m grateful to have been taught that message, but what can we do to ensure that we’re not only teaching, but doing, experiencing and living.
-Cliff
Cliff’s Note: Keep singing those songs in your head.