My church — like many others — has a dedicated time each Sunday for a brief message addressed specifically to the children. Often, they will come forward to the front to listen and participate.
As I watched this scene at a recent service, I couldn't help but think of children who will never again experience this, because they have become the innocent victims of a deadly war with fatal consequences.
Let's name some of them: Alisa, Polina, and Semyon. Anastasia, Kirill, Alise and Illiya. Some of them were school age. Others were toddlers. At least one was less than a day old. But all of them now will live only in memory, taken too soon by forces they were too young to comprehend.
War has a way of doing that. We look at young people anywhere as the hope for the future. When that future is cut short by bombs, fires, and gunshots, all of humanity suffers.
I can't predict what the final outcome of the Ukraine conflict will be. But my hope and yes, my prayer, is that Ukrainian children and their families will soon be able to live in peace, become active participants in rebuilding their nation, and that fields of golden yellow sunflowers will again grace their lives.
I'm Jim Kline, and that is my Perspective.
