You’ve heard the phrases from The Help.  “You is smart.  You is kind.  You is important.”  The scene in the book and in the movie warmed our hearts to tears as Aibilene looks into the eyes of precious toddler Mae Mobley and pleads with her to understand that she has value.  The child’s mother, incapable or unwilling to accept her child as she was and treasure her for the beauty within her baby heart. But Aibilene, the child’s black nanny, gives the words of encouragement every day and asks the little girl to repeat them after her each time.

Though the story is fiction, the impact of those words has touched millions across the nation. With a new poignancy, what we’ve known all along was brought to light in a fresh, new way.  We need to love and be loved.  We need to know that we matter and that we have value and purpose in this world.

I was talking with Brittany (my second daughter) on the phone yesterday.  She is a teacher in an underprivileged part of Phoenix.  This is her first year teaching and this has been a rough gig.  All of the kids in her class are Hispanic, and most have parents who do not speak English.  They are kids who know about hunger firsthand.  They have known abuse and neglect.  They have seen things that no third grader should see. One little girl’s mother was murdered in the street.

These kids are being pushed through a system that is broken and doesn’t seem to care whether they master the skills and knowledge they need to move to the next level.  It’s heart wrenching.  The first couple of months left Britt in tears every day.

But God has been good.  He has offered Brittany opportunities to reach out to these kids in specific and personal ways.  Going to their sporting events.  Finding out about their family situations and addressing individual needs.  Providing a little extra food for kids whose only meal is the free lunch at school.

Yesterday she had a chance to talk one on one with the little girl whose mother was murdered in cold blood.  This little girl is so broken and sad. Every day she writes in her journal that she wants her mommy.  Britt was able to look this precious child in the eye and say those now famous words, with a little better grammar.  “You are smart.  You are kind.  You are important. ”  And she had the little girl repeat the phrases.

But those words alone didn’t seem like enough.  Brittany took the encouragement one step further in the only direction that made sense to tell a grieving orphan child.  She told her that she would never be alone and that God loved her more than she could ever know.  She knew that it didn’t follow the rules of “separation of church and state”.  But she also knew that this little girl’s situation and welfare went beyond the box of being politically correct.  She needed to know that she was loved and valued and important, and that no matter what happened in her life she was adored and held by her Creator.

I love that Brittany listens to God’s voice in her ear, reminding her of the impact of her influence in these kids’ lives.  She may be the only person that makes them feel valued on any given day.  The only person that ever tells them they are “smart” and “kind” and “important”.  She might never know how saying those words and loving these kids might change their direction in life.  But she can rest in the fact that for a few hours each day, she has a chance to make their life a little brighter and feed not only there hungry tummies, but also nourish their starving souls…

I think we all have various forms of that opportunity every single day…

Ephesians 3:18 – And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is.

Psalm 139:16 – All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

James 1:27 – Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress…

1 Thessalonians 5: 11 – Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.