Just a Minute: In the Heart of a Child, One Moment...Can Last Forever

Just a Minute: In the Heart of a Child, One Moment...Can Last Forever

“There’s always one moment in childhood when the door opens and lets the future in.” —Graham Greene

I never intended to write this book. I didn’t go looking for it—it found me. Let me explain. My first book, Too Small to Ignore, was 266 pages long. But just three of those pages (9–12) form the genesis of this book, Just a Minute.

In the six years since the first book appeared, I’ve traveled across the world speaking, as always, about the value of children. It has often required me to tell my story of both joy and agony while growing up in West Africa. I’ve noticed that whenever I start talking about how tender and impressionable the heart of a child is, the auditorium goes eerily quiet. The metaphor of a child’s spirit being a lot like wet cement or moist clay, just waiting for an act of kindness, a hug, or a well-timed word of encouragement, seems to bring a flood of memory to many listeners. I can see that momentarily I have “lost” them. Their eyes turn pensive, their gaze wanders somewhere beyond me, and they are children again, lost in their thoughts . . . remembering.

I sometimes ask the audience directly, “So who was it? What did they say to you? What did they do? Who believed in you before you believed in yourself?” Eyes well up with tears, and audible sobs have broken out. Once in Holland, I had to stop and comfort my translator, who broke down in the middle of our message.

After speaking engagements I have lingered sometimes for hours as people line up to tell me their stories. We laugh, cry, hug, and then part as kindred spirits. We are better, more grateful, more determined people for the moments spent together. Book signings have become emotional times of memories and gratitude. Meanwhile, emails have poured in from across the world in which readers share their reflections, who blessed them, and what they are now doing to pass on that blessing.

So this book simply had to be written. From the stories of others I have become convinced that if God stands a child before you, for even just a minute, it is a divine appointment. You have the chance to launch a life, if you will. You never know when you are making a memory.

With each child you encounter, you have the power and opportunity to build up . . . or, sadly, to tear down. A life can be literally launched with as little as a single word, an uplifting comment, a well-timed hug, a tender prayer, a compliment, the holding of a frightened hand, or the gentle wiping of a tear—all in just a minute!

From JUST A MINUTE by Wess Stafford with Dean Merrill. Published by Moody Press. Copyright (c) Wess Stafford with Dean Merrill, 2012.