“Recently,” says the _Outlook_, “a tender, gentle, refined woman who has identified herself with those movements which seek to improve the conditions of child life, said, ‘I have had a new thought come to me that has made me accept the loss of my little girl with patience, almost with resignation. God never meant that a woman should be the mother to just one little girl. He meant that every woman should be mother to every child in the world.’” “How I wish I could give a Christmas present to Jesus!” said a loving little girl, her eyes dancing with Christmas joy as she surveyed the small gifts, so long planned and carefully prepared for her dear ones. For her the very essence of Christmas was its expression in visible tokens to those whom she loved. If we mothers long to “give a Christmas present to Jesus,” what could be more acceptable to Him, than the dedication of an hour of this busy, happy Christmas season to loving prayer and thought for the mothers and children in our own community and throughout the wide world? Thus shall we be drawn near to the heart of the great Father, and, if during this hour some angel messenger whispers to our hearts of a special task which He is willing to entrust to us, may we be ready to answer with Mary of old,--“Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word!” What blessings shall we ask for the mothers of the world? What do we need for ourselves? Unselfish love, infinite patience, wisdom and insight, tact and sympathy, health to bear the daily strain, quiet nerves, a sense of humor that smooths rough places, a sweet, strong cheerfulness, a likeness to Christ that shall be reflected in the lives of all the members of the household. “According to the _riches_ of His grace,” He is waiting to bestow His blessings on the mother hearts waiting here, before Him, and through their intercession, on the mother hearts of the world. What blessings shall we ask for the children of the world? The same that we ask for our own as we kneel at their bedside, and our eyes are dim with tears of yearning love, while we pray that our darlings may be kept from harm and accident, from all soul stains, that they may “grow in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man.” Is there any blessing you ask for your boy and girl that is not needed by the other children of the world? “Prayer is cheap,” some say, “it costs nothing to say a prayer for missions.” _Real_ prayer is not cheap,--it costs the deepest, strongest thought one can expend; it costs time; it costs the willingness to help to answer one’s own prayers in terms of interest and gifts and service. In Christ’s name, then, let us pray, and let us not rest nor be satisfied until every mother in the world, clasping her child to her bosom, is truly a holy mother, and every little child is a holy child. INDEX Addams, Miss Jane, p. 92. “Age of the Child,” p. 4. American children at work, pp. 248, 251, 252.