JIM “PAPPY” MOORE: Red and Yellow, Black and White

When I was just a child in Sunday School way back in the 1950s, we sang a song called “Jesus Loves the Little Children.” Its words embraced the essence of Matthew 19:14 where Jesus said “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

Written by Clarence Herbert Woolston, a minister, the song was written over 100 years ago. It was well ahead of its time. Hear the words, and sing them if you know them. Here is the way we sang the words in the early 1950s in Texas.

“Jesus loves the little children,
All the children of the world;
Red and yellow, black and white,
They are precious in His sight,
Jesus loves the little children of the world.”

If you can sing this little song with full faith and gusto, with joy in your heart, you are living life right.

This song came to mind after I had been to a dentist’s office recently. The lady who worked the front desk was an American Latina. The lady who handled my x-rays and other such matters, and who assisted the dentist, was an African American. The lady who was my dentist was Asian American. Here were three highly competent women in their fields, doing what their skills allowed them to do. They were amazingly good at their work, and had wonderful personalities as well.

They are children of God, and so am I. We all start as children, and if we are fortunate, we retain some of that childhood goodness and wonderment in our lives as we grow older.

I thought of this song and sang its words as I left the office. “Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight, Jesus loves the little children of the world.”

Keep your heart right. Hold on to those words in your life. Don’t let anger, or hate, or disdain spoil your outlook. You are a child of God. Be as little children. That’s what Jesus said.