Little Children

Saturday I was in our toy room, organizing, trying to go through Christmas junk still everywhere (we had been out of town so I wasn't that behind schedule. :) And we got a little fire pit circle thing, I don't know what they're called. I got it out of the box and went to carry it outside when I opened the back door I saw our dog, with a lifeless chicken in his mouth... ???!!! I yelled his name, he dropped the chicken which lay on the ground not moving and I hollered at Ezra to go get Dad. (I don't know what to do in this situation!) Ezra, being the curious boy he is wants to know WHY I want him to get Dad and comes to look outside for the reason of my shock and sees the chicken. He BURSTS into tears and runs calling Jack's name...

Jack came out to what we were sure was a dead chicken. He had me tie up the dog outside, with feathers coming out of his mouth and knowing he was in big trouble fighting me every step of the way. My mind is trying to comprehend the situation. I've heard that dogs that get chickens will just keep going back to them. What are we going to do with Charlie? Do we need to get rid of our chickens? Did he kill it?  How long did he have it? I was just in the next room, how come I didn't hear the chickens screaming or anything?? While my mind is focused on these things, Ezra is just bawling. The poor kid could not stop thinking about that poor chicken and his tender little heart was broken.

Jack went over to it and realized it was not dead, yet. He tried to get it to stand to assess the damage and it just kept falling over to the side. He finally got her to balance and he sat there stroking her feathers while she sat very still, her eyes closed. Ezra wanted to be right by her side so he joined Jack, kneeling, crying, stroking the chicken. We couldn't tell if the neck was broken, leg broken, but Jack thought he should put the poor thing out of her misery. He sent us inside and Ezra's sobs continued. I suggested he say a little prayer. As I sat inside I felt like, we have to give her 24 hours. He can't just kill it. It just went through a traumatic experience, maybe she'll be fine after her shock wears off. And so we agreed.

We got a box to put her in, gave it some food and water and she surprisingly started eating. Now, this may have been an hour after we found her. Ezra went out to check on that chicken continuously and would happily report every bit of news. She's eating! She's standing! She pooped! By the afternoon Jack went out to check on the chicken, who jumped out of the box! She went over to the coop with the other chickens. We watched her that night while all the other chickens got up inside the coop but she stayed out. Jack carried her in, but she hopped out. Well, I guess her feet are fine? That evening he tried again and she stayed in with the chickens. By the next day she seemed completely normal, though we watched her, but you would never guess anything happened.

This experience caused me to reflect on little children, and how much God loves them. I think a prayer from a little boy who turned 6 years old just 2 days prior is much more tender and has a special place in God's heart than ours. That isn't to say he doesn't hear and answer our prayers because I know he does, but our prayers, with perhaps more understanding, usually fall under the, "if this chicken is going to die, please let it die quickly." "Please calm our troubled son's heart." We leave the will up to God. But Ezra was just so intently focused on this chicken and desperately wanted it to live. His prayer was deep with pure intent, even with the little knowledge he has. His faith was strong that God could do anything. He sat by that chicken, cared for that chicken, rejoiced in her little victories. Now if the chicken had died we still could have taught Ezra some valuable lessons, but I think it was a sweet experience for him to learn that God cares about him and answers his prayers.

I can't think on these things without my thoughts going to the Savior and his experience with the little children from the account found in 3 Nephi. He calls all the children over to him and stands in the midst of them. He prays for them and their parents. The scriptures say, "No one can conceive of the joy which filled our souls." (3 Nephi 17:17) It must have been a truly amazing experience to personally hear the Savior pray for you and your child. Afterwards it records:

"And ... he took their little children, one by one, and blessed them, and prayed unto the Father for them. And when he had done this he wept again; And he … said unto them: Behold your little ones. … And they saw the heavens open, and they saw angels descending out of heaven as it were in the midst of fire; and they came down and encircled those little ones about, and they were encircled about with fire; and the angels did minister unto them” (3 Nephi 17: 21-24)

Jay E. Jensen in a talk titled "Little Children and the Gospel" points out that phrase, "one by one." We also see it in 3 Nephi 11 when Jesus first appeared to the people. The multitude goes forth and thrusts their hands into his side and feel the nail prints in his hands and feet, 'one by one' until they had all gone forth. Elder Jensen asks, were children among those? Were they given two opportunities to touch the Savior and be touched by Him? We don't know, but I wouldn't be surprised if there were children with their parents when the Savior came.

We do know for certain the account previously mentioned in chapter 17 which we learn consists of 2500 souls- men, women and children (3 Nephi 17:25). We can only guess of that number several hundred were children, and he took them one by one personally blessing them--something that could have taken hours. It shows to us his great love and interest in little children and it teaches us something how we should treat them as well.

Children aren't always easy. When you're a young mom that is dealing with the constant fighting, whining, laziness, messes, lack of respect for people and possessions, lying, deceiving, scheming. Trust me, my kids are pros at that kind of thing (quick story to show I'm not exaggerating, they will decide on one of them to sneak out the window to go ring the doorbell to distract my attention while the other runs to the pantry to get a package of cookies to hide in their room, they were ages 3 and 5--full of these things). But, too often I let those things cloud my perspective of them and what God truly thinks of them. They are learning. I need to be patient and help teach them to use those clever skills for good. :) And pray daily to see them the way God sees them.