St. Nick, Children and Poverty

Tis the season to celebrate St. Nicholas, patron of children and the poor. His feast was last Friday, but I am reminded of him again today when I have off from school. Thank you, God, for the snow!

Two of my favorite meditations related to children and the poor fill my heart with hope.

“Lord, give me the heart of a child and the awesome courage to live it out,” wrote Catherine Doherty, founder of the Catholic lay community Madonna House.

“I am poor and loved by God,” counseled a priest when I struggled to pray.

A child depends on his parents for everything. He also lives in the present moment and delights in it. I lost that radical trust as an adult, but God gives it to me anew when I repeat to myself that God loves me even in the midst of my poverty right now.

Children remind me of my poverty and help heal me in it – especially when in their silliness they demand love and attention, or discover how the world works. Here are some of my favorite student stories from last week:

It was time to go outside for recess; the process is lengthened now by winter coats. One of my students took longer than the others as she admired her green down jacket and struggled to close it.  The child interrupted my directions and skipped to the front of the line as she announced the one thing on her mind.

“Do you like my new jacket?” she shouted, eyes shining. “Can you help me button it so I can get puffy?”

At lunch time, I observed a kindergarten girl take berries from her lunch bag and mutter quietly to herself, “This is filthy. This is making my filthy.” 

Nonetheless, she continued a constant stream of berries to her mouth, completely rapt by the juice dripping everywhere – down her chin, white shirt, hands, table...

At Math time, a boy in my class ripped his paper as he erased it. “I was erasing my paper and I’m just so strong that it ripped,” he proclaimed.

I wondered: “What do you think you might want to do next time?” 

After a moment of contemplation, he replied with furrowed brow, “Hmmm…I don’t know…maybe I could erase with my left hand?”

There’s a line for an adult signature on the Math homework. It says, “Ask someone to correct your paper. Corrected by ______.” 

Sometimes cheeky children sign “Mom,” but today, I was amazed to find that “big Foot” signed his name to another of my students’ work.

Thank you, God, for these children and their openness to share exactly what’s on their minds. “Fold the wings of my intellect” and open my heart so I can become little again to be with You right here today.