Lorraine: I received an email today from someone who would like a message from you for all the hurting children in the world. Do you have a message for them?
Jesus: Yes. I have a message for the children, their parents, and for anyone who cares for or comes into contact with children. I love children. I am angered when they are hurting. The cause doesn’t matter – no child should be hurting. When any child is hurting, I am hurting with them and for them. They are precious to me. They are God’s children. Babies, infants, toddlers, and young children all need love, nurturing, caring, support, and guidance. It is your job as parents, as adults, as a community, as a society, as a species to nurture children until they become adults. The adult age may vary from culture to culture, but certainly, until a child has completed their education, until they are able to feed, house, and support themselves, and until they are able to marry and have children of their own, they are still children and should be considered as such.
When a child is hurting, it is up to the parents to support them, love them, and to help them overcome, compartmentalize, and forgive that hurt. Leaving a child to do this on their own, without help, is a travesty. Children don’t have the mentality, intelligence, or maturity to do much beyond love and learn. They need to learn how to handle their emotions. They need to have the ability, outlet, and ear of another person with whom they can voice their feelings. They need to have the ear of someone who will not chide them, or discount their emotions. They need someone who will not tell them they are wrong, or their feelings are wrong. It is wrong for any adult to do this to a child. A child needs to be heard. And they need to be heard with compassion, empathy, and love.
I see many young children hurting because they have lost grandparents, parents, pets, and others they deeply love and have no opportunity to talk about their feelings. They have no one saying to them, how are you feeling today? Parents want to know how their child did in school, what activities they participated in, and what homework they have. Seldom do I hear a parent saying, how are you feeling inside today? Are you having a good day? Did anything happen at school today that you’d like to talk about? Or when they’re feeling blue, what can I do to make you feel better?
I can also tell you that I don’t see children getting enough hugs. They may get a hug before getting on the bus for school, before going to bed, or for doing a great job at something that challenged them. But I seldom see children getting hugs just because they are loved, or because they asked for one, or because the parent sees they need comforting. With both parents working in many households, the child sees less of their parents than they need. Children need the comfort of having a parent with them. They need to feel safe and secure. I’m not saying that both parents should not be working – it has become a necessity in your society. But I am saying, when both parents are gone all day, and the child is in daycare or with a babysitter until the parents come home in the evening, the parents must take extra care with the child to make sure they are comforted, secure, and not feeling fear, loneliness, or isolated from either parent. Many children are, in fact, raising themselves. Fortunately, most are doing a remarkably good job at it. But how they will deal with their unresolved emotions as adults remains to be seen. And those who are not doing well at raising themselves, are at high risk of doing the wrong thing when confronted with emotions they don’t know how to handle.
For the parents who are divorced, it is important that the children from that marriage have access to both parents, even if they only have the opportunity to talk to them on a telephone, or video chat with them. A virtual hug is better than no hug at all. And hearing a parent say, I love you, is better than leaving the children wondering.
A stable environment, good parenting, teaching your children good social skills, and loving them with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind, goes a long way to help your children learn how to deal with their feelings and emotions. It helps them to live and thrive in society, and to be productive, hard-working adults – adults who will then turn around and give the same nurturing to their children. With good parenting, many of the problems in your world would disappear.
My message to all the children in the world who are hurting is this. I love you. I hear you. I feel your pain with you. And I am with you every step of the way. I walk with you through your pain. And I wish with all my heart and soul that I could take your pain away from you. But to do that would be to deny you your right to have a human experience. Taking away your free will would be far worse than allowing you to feel whatever emotion you are dealing with. Learning to love, give, forgive, feel compassion, empathy, and to want to help those in need all come from the hurts you experience in life – and, too, the love. Take the hurts you have, and the love inside you, channel it into something wonderful. Some people make beautiful music or create fabulous art, while others go out into the community and help those that cannot help themselves. There are many creative outlets, choose the one that’s best for you, and take that pain you feel, fill it with love, and give it to others. Love heals both the giver and the receiver. It’s love that makes the world such a marvelous place.
Tomorrow will be a better day than today – if you allow it to be. Pray on it and I will pray with you. Then go do something with love in your mind and kindness in your heart.
Peace.
