“Please, Jesus, Bless my Child!”

It will encourage mother to remember that there is a God in heaven who is close to her. He is not far away as many have supposed. We read: “God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love, which ye have showed toward His name” (Hebrews 6:10). God marks the unselfish, self-sacrificial labor she has expended. No, she is not working just to earn a reward, because her true motivation, as with God, is love; but it encourages her to know that there is One who sees all the little unselfish things she does when no one is watching. God appreciates her.

One one occasion some mothers “brought unto [Jesus their] little children, that He should put His hands on them, and pray” (Matthew 19:13. They were sincerely seeking help in raising their children. If Jesus would notice them, touch them; if they could look into His eyes they would want to be good boys and girls; please, Jesus, bless my child!

Jesus already loved their children. He already understood the burdens the mothers were carrying. He wanted to have the children come. But, as it happens, some mistaken but well-intentioned people got in the way. “The disciples rebuked them,” Go away! Jesus is too important a Man, too busy to have you bother Him! But these good men did not realize what they were doing; they were channeling what Satan wants mothers to think!

Mark says that Jesus was “much displeased” with His disciples. Not just a little, but “much displeased”! Luke, in turn, says that Jesus called the disciples to Him and rebuked them. Do not even think of doing such a thing again! “Suffer the little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not! (18:16, 17). A wise and understanding writer has commented on what this means to mothers:

“Let mothers come to Jesus with their perplexities. They will find grace sufficient to aid them in the management of their children. The gates are open for every mother who would lay her burdens at the Savior’s feet. He . . . stills invites the mothers to lead up their little ones to be blessed by Him. Even the babe in its mother’s arms may dwell as under the shadow of the Almighty through the faith of the praying mother . . . If we will live in communion with God, we too may expect the divine Spirit to mould our little ones, even from their earliest moments” (The Desire of Ages, page 512)