The treasures in our hands!!

Once again today I was reminded of the amazing privilege it is to work and have the opportunity to get to know children and young people and even more so the blessing it is to invest into their lives!
We can often forget that even when we have just one in 0ur hands they are a treasure that God himself has placed there and for an amount of time it is our responsibility to care for and rub till that young person shines brightly. No matter how young they are we are shaping their destiny. Perhaps I am beginning to have just a small glimpse of what Jesus meant when he said

"Let the little children come to me"
As adults we can often hinder our younger ones coming to Jesus I think that entertaining them is one way that we can hinder them from really getting to Know Jesus they may stay in our church building but they sometimes don't get to know the one that can give them real Life!
I think there are a number of ways we can let the children come to Jesus, we as the adults who have had these precious lives entrusted to us must look for every occasion to point them to the author of the meaning of Life, teaching them to have an encounter with him themselves and also by teaching them that it is not out of the ordinary to hear his voice but whats more they should engage with our heavenly father every day for guidance, security etc.
Secondly we need to give them a platform to prove their own personal faith by giving them opportunities to engage with mission both locally and abroad. Nothing better than this works to catapult them into a deeper relationship with God, because all of a sudden they find themselves in a context where they have to hear God and they have to completely depend on him as nothing else is going to work.
When we challenge our young people and don't simply keep them coming to our buildings we not only save them from gangs etc we open a door for them to be part of this beautiful family we call the body of Christ for eternity and we create movers and shakers who can start shaking now no matter how young they might be.... these little treasures are nation changers and to be frank they are dangerous weapons in the hands of Our heavenly father who will not only challenge those outside the kingdom but those within too!!!