A child shall lead you.

I don't often make entries on Monday, but thought I would, this being a turning point year for me.

No insects to show for. No moths to free. No caterpillars to wonder at. The day was good in its usualness. Students relearned decimal place value to the thousandths place today. It was taught to them earlier in the year, but as it goes, unless it is used often, things like that don't stay in the memory for long. That's why it is important to do something with the numbers.

It wasn't my lesson, but the teacher who taught it had the kids  standing at the back of the classroom, holding their cards with the various decimals. They had to place themselves in order from least to greatest. There was much hesitation for many of them, in reading the numbers correctly, and in placing themselves in between other decimal numbers.

Not surprisingly, they had the most trouble with numbers that had a zero in the tenths place, or nothing in the hundredths place. For example, .045 and .4 ... which is least? They had trouble seeing that .045 is less than .4 ... but by the end of the activity, many of them were getting better at seeing the relationship. Working with the numbers in this way, reading them out loud, holding them in their hands, comparing them to other decimals, walking around looking for their place in the line-up, seemed to help them see, especially once they were all in order, the relationship of decimals placed from least to greatest. We saw several light bulbs go off as they discovered how to read and order decimals to the thousandths place.

Yet, my mind keeps going back to yesterday's event during church, and the words of a six year old girl who doesn't understand place value yet because she is only in 1st grade. But she understands the value of greater things.

Each month I've been reading a letter from the ZOE missions in Zimbabwe, Africa to the congregation. The letter is written by ZOE founder, Greg Jenks, a minister in the United Methodist Church. The letters usually retell his experience in a village or school in Zimbabwe, describing a child or a group of children affected by the AIDS epidemic which has killed thousands and thousands of adults in that country, leaving behind as many children, orphaned. The letters tug at my heart, probably because Greg has ministered in our area, and because the work he does involves children, the innocents in our world.

The Zimbabwe Orpan Endeavor works from the power and strength of the donations, prayers, and the skillful hands and hearts of those who are led by God. ZOE brings food, medical care, educational materials, and hope to the children orphaned by AIDS.

There's no other way to put it. How else does one walk away from one's own comfortable home and family in this country, and fly into a bleak land which is losing their adult citizens daily to that deadly virus? How else except with the call of God beckoning you, and your own hope in the Lord? That is what Greg is doing in Africa, and that is what the missionaries who hear his story and who follow him there to offer their skills and ministering gifts are doing.

Yesterday, the children of our church picked up the little buckets they had decorated with pictures and scripture last month during Sunday School, and passed them around to help the ZOE mission. We were pleasantly surprised when we counted up the offering after the service. I was happy with the amount, surprised because it was more than triple the amount they had collected the month before.

But one little girl was thinking bigger than I. Oh, she put me in my place. She doesn't know it, but she showed great wisdom when she spoke.

When I told the children how much we were going to send to ZOE this month, the six year old said confidently "And next month we'll get more!"

How little my expectations are. I looked into her intelligent blue eyes. She had spoken what I hadn't even thought. I was feeling satisfied, thinking that we had done a great deed this month.

She was thinking we could do better.

I know there is a verse somewhere that says we shall be led by little children. It is late. If you know which verse I'm talking about, would you leave a comment for me?

Don't ever discount what a child says to you, especially when you think you know what's really going on. God works through children as well as through adults. I thank Him for that.