Finally it would all pay off as I entered the “halls of learning” for my first day of school. She anxiously awaited my return home with the results of my first day of school. But, alas, they were not impressed with my great intellect. Maybe I should have eaten more of those walnuts that someone had told Mom were good brain food.

I was ruined. I just could not get those Mother Goose rhymes out of my mind. Later in geometry class, we were asked, “What is the shortest distance between two points?” My hand shot up, “There was a crooked man, and he went a crooked mile …they all lived together in a little crooked house.” I didn’t ace geometry.

I was in first grade when I first realized something was seriously wrong. Miss Georgia Goatly stood up to give a recitation. Suddenly in my mind’s eye, I could see a goat with Georgia’s features, standing on her hind legs reciting, “Bah, bah black sheep have you any wool?’

I laughed hilariously. I knew I was in deep, deep trouble when my teacher grabbed me by the ear and marched me to the principal. “What do you have to say for yourself, young man?” he said. I just couldn’t help it, it just popped out. “Little Jack Horner sat in a corner, eating his Christmas pie: He put in his thumb and pulled out a plum, and said, ‘What a good boy am I.’”

I still smart from the “board of education” applied to my seat of learning that day. It was after biology class, and “Old McDonald had a farm,” that I finally realized what the problem was. The missing link to those Mother Goose nursery rhymes was Jesus! Now it all made sense.

Yes! “Humpty, Dumpty had a great fall. All the Kings horses and all the king’s men couldn’t put Humpty together again.” But Jesus could! When you’ve fallen down and broken your crown, Jesus can restore you to sanity and heal you.

“Little Bo Peep, has lost her sheep, and doesn’t know where to find them. But Jesus knows, and can bring them home, wagging their tails behind them.”

“There was a crooked man, who walked a crooked mile. He never could straighten up, so never did he smile. He found a little book, that said, ‘God makes the crooked straight.’ He believed and straightened up with smiles and jumped the garden gate.”

Even though the popular song, “Mary Had A Little Lamb,” is not a Mother Goose rhyme, I see a powerful gospel message. “Mary had a little lamb.” (Jesus is God’s Lamb who died for our sins). “It’s fleece was white as snow,” (Jesus was sinless and spotless. See Isaiah 53:3-7). “And everywhere that Mary went, the lamb was sure to go.” (Jesus is a friend who will never leave nor forsake you. See Hebrews 13:5). “It followed her to school one day, which was against the rules.” (Even today some would try to keep Jesus and His Word out of school). “It made the children laugh and play to see a lamb at school.” (Jesus brings joy and abundant life; make sure you take Him wherever you go.)

Can you imagine what happened to Little Jack Horner when he invited Jesus Christ into his heart and life? See Revelation 3:20.

“Little Jack Horner, sat in a corner, reading his Bible each day; He learned what it said, and each night in bed, the verses he learned he would say. The first night he said, ‘Since God so loved us, we should love one another.’ The next night he said, ‘Obey Father and Mother.’ At the end of the week, he had learned verse seven, that Jesus is the way to Heaven.”

Putting all levity aside, please know that Jesus brings peace and joy. If you have “fallen and can’t get up,” if you grew up in a dysfunctional home, or you are in a time of turmoil and confusion, Jesus is the missing link that you’ve searched for all your life. He loved you so much that He died on the cross for your sins. Mary’s Lamb came to be our Savior and friend. Only Jesus can put us “Humptys” back together again.

How can you receive this Jesus that gives purpose, hope, peace, and joy to life?

Mother Goose’s “The Alphabet” reminds me of the missing link. “A, B, C, and D, Pray, playmates, agree… J, K, and L, in peace we will dwell… P, Q, R, and S, love may we possess… W, X, and Y, we’ll not quarrel or die…”

Mother Goose may not make you an Einstein, but when you invite the missing link, Jesus, into your life, you can be a new creation and become all God destines you to become.

A - Admit you have sinned. “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23

B – Believe in Jesus. “For God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16

C - Confess and leave your sins. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us form al unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9-10