Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 7626 Plough Quarterly • Winter 2015 from moment to moment, from day to day, from year to year. Then the forming of the child will not be something we undertake ourselves; rather, our role will consist solely in assisting in the formation intended by God. That is the secret of this task. It is the same in our relationship with every individual adult. We must see each human being just as he or she is intended in the heart of God, in the holy purpose of his “So be it.” Above all, we must wish for each person that he or she is integrated into the ultimate thoughts of God, so that God’s final will may be revealed among humankind: that is, the church and the kingdom of the complete unity of Jesus Christ. We thus beara crucial responsibility to live in reverence for the Holy Spirit. This is true for all aspects of the church’s life, but it applies in an especially holy sense to the bringing up of children. Reverence for the Holy Spirit means reverence for the father, who is to represent Christ as the God-given head; reverence for the mother, who is to represent Christ in the like- ness of Mary and the church; and reverence for the child and for the wonderful mystery of being a child and becoming a child.  Eberhard Arnold (1883–1935) was a German theologian and educator. These words are taken from remarks at the dedication of a newborn, ­ September 30, 1934. Translated by Nicoline Maas. www.eberhardarnold.com When we receivea little child from God, a soul is entrusted to humankind from ­ eternity. No matter how often this happens, each time it is a powerful event, something unbelievably great. We love little children because Jesus loved them. And from him we know that the kingdom of God belongs to them – in fact, that the kingdom is nearer to them than to the millions of adults. Seen in this light, educa- tion is no arbitrary molding of a child, as the unbeliev- ing world imagines. We cannot shape or form our children however we like, according to our own preferences. If we are to serve them rightly, we will form them only according to the way God has already thought of them. Every childis a thought of God. We can only perform the service of education when we understand the thought of God for each child – a thought that God has had in eternity, and still has, and will always have just for this child. This thought of God is the holy “So be it” for this child. God knows what each child is intended to become. It is the task of the parents, the church, and the educators to help this child become just what he or she should be, in accordance with the original thought of God. Through a reli- gious sensitivity, we must attain a vision of this thought of God, which is still apparently hidden, and must learn to understand it more clearly I n s i g h t Every Child Is a Thought of God t h e s e c r e t a t t h e h e a r t o f e d u c a t i o n E B E R H A R D A R N O L D Philipp Otto Runge, detail, The Morning From WikiArt (public domain)