I am a soft sell for stories like Heidi, and Anne of Green Gables. I believe that a child's innocence can open up locked doors and hearts.
God knows this, in fact I suspect He thought of it. Burly men with rough manners will abruptly clean up their act in the presence of a trusting child.
Heidi believes that her grandfather will protect her, and in concert with that trust, he does. Before Heidi came to his cottage in the Alps, part of him was as frozen as a Swiss winter. But her small face looking up at his melts those walls of anger and isolation, even bringing him down the mountain to go to church. Anne softens Matthew, giving him a reason to venture into the general store to buy a dress with puffed sleeves. Cindy Lou Hoo splits the shell of the Grinch even as he is
thrusting the Christmas tree back up the chimney. Shirley Temple cracks the crotchety crust of every ornery old man to share the stage with her.
It is not random that young' uns frequently inhabit new marriages. People who last decade may have been preoccupied with financial aid forms, ferreting out a career in a cut throat field, dry cleaning bills and a social life that begins at ten pm, suddenly find themselves making decisions about strollers and lactation. Maybe the Plan is to divert a couple's attention, just as they are starting to notice annoying flaws in each other. I personally have had countless well timed arguments with
John thwarted by a toddler who trumped our attention with screaming or poop.
I consider myself a consummate multitasker, but even I cannot yell at my husband while singing a lullaby. By the time the baby was actually asleep, my pregnancy induced short term memory loss kicked in and I could not remember the thread of the tirade.
That's ok. I needed some softening myself.
