y doorbell rings. When I answer, five little children stand outside. Smiles on their faces, the hope of a sweet [candy] in their eyes, their 10 muddy hands holding out to me a variety of flowers picked minutes before from my own garden or—on a lucky day—from my neighbor’s. As I struggle to force the one-inch stems into a vase, I reflect on the many children who over the years have enriched my life and been the focus of my ministry.

My thoughts travel to the children with leprosy in Sierra Leone, West Africa, who for a few years became part of my life. When they came for a cuddle, their lives and circumstances made me grateful that heaven is a real place—a home where children never again will be ostracized from their families because of illness.

I remember the 100 children in Albania who, just after the fall of Communism, ran straight from school to a rented hall to learn about their new friend Jesus. I listened as four of them sang a song. With their own words and to their own tune they sang of their love for a God they were just beginning to know. Jesus’ words “Anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child" (Mark 10:15, NIV) came to my mind. When did I last praise God with such joy and exuberance?

I think of the children in southern Sudan, a country torn by civil war. I watched as the children learned about trust by jumping blindfolded from a table into the open arms of their teacher. I listened to the Bible story and observed how the Holy Spirit worked in the lives of the children. How willingly and quickly they moved from “I understand this" to “I will apply this to my life." Statements such as “I will watch my father’s goats better, so he can trust me more" humbled me and made me think of the hours I spent discussing spiritual issues without making further attempts to apply them to my life.

I will always treasure the memories of the prayers by children in primary Sabbath school in St. Albans, England. I was reluctant to pray aloud; their willingness to share their personal prayer requests with me and with each other taught me to become more open.

Coming from a culture in which it is not uncommon to pray with hands in the pockets, I have many thoughts today as I watch the girls in Pakistan, out of reverence for God’s holiness, cover their heads with their dupatta (scarf) when we pray. When I see how gracefully they slip the corner of their two-and-a-half-meter-long scarf over their heads, it looks so easy. As I follow their example and feel my own dupatta slip down over my face, I hear them giggle. But their reverence for God’s holiness is genuine.

These and many more children over the years have enriched my life, challenged my ministry, and taught me valuable lessons. The kingdom belongs to them (Matt. 19:14). They may bring noise into their Father’s house, but they also bring exuberance, energy, talents, and joy. Their presence in His house is so important to God that He warns us not to put any obstacles in their way, anything that may hinder their feeling at home or their sense of belonging, not to do or say anything that may cause them to turn away from their inheritance. They are living out important spiritual lessons. Jesus put this across to His listeners when He challenged them to learn from the children in their midst and become more like them (Mark 10:15).

The world is full of children, who are exclusively His. Let us love them, accept them, include them, trust them, and learn from them. Because if we “will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child" . . . we may not see the kingdom at all.

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Birthe Kendel, currently a missionary with her husband in Pakistan, is a children’s ministries leader of wide experience for the Seventh-day Adventist Church.