Toothless Grin: When it's not Cute

Last night I delivered over 550 items that our homeschooling group had collected for the homeless. I met with Michelle, the head of a relief center in a neighboring county.

While we were talking, she asked me to pray for a little 4 year old boy who will probably be having all 20 of this teeth pulled this week. The teeth are rotten. If you've heard of mothers letting their babies and toddlers fall asleep with milk or juice bottles (over and over), you know that the result is cavities forming in those tooth buds and baby teeth.

He is the third child in his family to need some radical tooth extraction. I don't know the boy's name, and by law Michelle wouldn't be able to tell me anyway. But please pray for him. When his mom asked Michelle if she had some pudding or Jell-o to give him, Michelle was then keyed into a major education problem: this mom didn't know how to feed her child nutritiously. She just needed soft foods for him. Michelle suggested more nutritious options. I was fighting tears as I drove home thinking about this little boy. He is the same age as my Joel.

Toothless grins are cute. For the first few months of a baby's life. You can pray for me, too. I am getting closer to the homeless and, like working in the crisis pregnancy center a decade ago, I am finding myself holding onto their plights and feeling helpless to make a difference. But my borders are enlarging. My heart is too, but then so is my knowledge of the desperate situations people are in.