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Origins: This heartwarming story began its Internet life around April 1998, after having appeared under its original title, Heaven Scent, in Miracles in Our Midst, a 1997 compilation of inspirational tales. It's a true story in the sense that there is such a child, and the tale of her premature birth and subsequent battle for health was a real one. What elevates this story above other true accounts of seriously ill children and direly premature babies who beat impossible odds to go on to live healthy lives is the comment Danae makes about rain and the pursuant interpretation that God was holding Danae on His chest during those first fragile months of her life. A leap has been made between a five-year-old's comment and the presumption that she could only have come by the knowledge behind it during her time as a newborn, when she was too tender to be held by her parents or other earth-bound caregivers. God may well smell like rain, but a child born three months prematurely lacks sufficiently developed olfactory senses to be able to detect it. We don't have to look far into our culture to find other tales about small tykes seeing God, angels, ghosts, or other supernatural beings — the underlying belief that very young children can perceive such entities while adults cannot, and that they lose this ability as they grow older, is a persistent one: [Millman, 1993]Soon after her brother was born, little Sachi began to ask her parents to leave her alone with the new baby. They worried that like most four-year-olds, she might feel jealous and want to hit or shake him, so they said no. But she showed no signs of jealousy. She treated the baby with kindness and her pleas to be left alone with him became more urgent. They decided to allow it.Elated, she went into the baby's room and shut the door, but it opened a crack -- enough for her curious parents to peek in and listen. They saw litle Sachi walk quietly up to her baby brother, put her face close to his and say quietly, Baby, tell me what God feels like. I'm starting to forget.As to whether or not small children can see God, perhaps it's best to leave the last word to the following young lady: [Collected on the Internet, 1999]A kindergarten teacher was observing her classroom of children while they drew. She would occasionally walk around to see each child's artwork. As she got to one little girl who was working diligently, she asked what the drawing was. The girl replied, I'm drawing God. The teacher paused and said, But no one knows what God looks like. Without missing a beat, or looking up from her drawing, the girl replied, They will in a minute.Barbara picture of contentment Mikkelson
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