“Then the king will reply to them, ‘I assure you that when you have done it for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you have done it for me.’”

Matthew 25:40

Today provides one of those opportunities for an essay in response to just one photograph. This is our youngest grandchild, and I love everything this image has to say about him and his wonderful family.

Geoffrey is playing with his brother David’s old train-set, for the very first time. And, while ten-year-old boys may be too sophisticated for wooden trains, David was delighted to share and to play with his little brother. Both David and Beks are super-wonderful with Geoffrey, and he loves them with a devotion that is beautiful to see.

Also (and as an educator this is a theme I have returned to many times), please take note of how this non-electronic, imagination dependent, multi-purpose wooden train set engages and stimulates just about every part of Geoffrey’s developmental profile. He is even wearing his engineer’s hat!

Geoffrey is 21-months now, and he is being raised in a stimulation-rich learning environment. Blocks, cars, puzzles, books, art supplies, parents who love one another and play with him, siblings who love him and help care for him, a dog (granted, a little weird), a cat, a beautiful safe neighborhood, two sets of grandparents who video-chat with him just about every day, open passes to Disney… and so much more.

Children like Geoffrey are sponges for learning; they soak in everything around them from the moment they are born. It’s not so much that this one is unusually privileged but that this is how it is supposed to be for all children!

• Anything we can do as a society to provide such love and such resources and such stimulation to every child possible, is a step toward a more prosperous and secure tomorrow for all of us.
• To the extent that we withhold support and funding and encouragement and resources from any child, then we are compromising our own future too.

My grandchildren give me hope, all of them do. As followers of Jesus, I’d say that we all are called to be in the “giving hope” business.

And if we do not encourage, and inspire, and nurture, and offer mercy, and carry grace, and add light, then are we in truth Christian at all?

In love, and because love demands it – DEREK