On Friday (Dec. 14th), I laid in bed awhile thinking about my blog for the day. Feeling that I had a good handle on what I wanted to write I crawled out of my warm bed and headed for my computer. I wanted to write about the idea that God has messed up the world. I was planning to ask how we can feel that way when He has clearly laid out the guidelines for happiness and we keep ignoring them. If we run the red light and get caught, is it our fault or the cops?
But as soon as my computer warmed up I saw the breaking news and learned of the tragic shooting/killing of a classroom full of first graders and their teachers. Can a reaction to such tragic news even be described in mere words? I began to sob and cried unto the Lord, “O God, we can’t keep living like this! Our babies, our babies, our babies…… we can’t keep doing this! Please bring an end to it all soon. How much more wicked can the world get? How much more must happen?”
I know some of the pain that these families are experiencing. Again there is no language available to describe emotional pain that cuts to your very core and leaves you unable to breathe. It is pain so intense that you are sure your body can not possibly survive it. But broken hearts don’t stop beating even when you wish they would.
And our hearts break with them. What kind of hate and hurt would cause someone to slaughter these innocent children? They have just barely entered society and have only begun to learn its ways. While all of this countries shootings have saddened, this one devastates.
This is the time of year when our minds are on children’s joys and surprises. We share secrets and talk of Santa, Rudolph, Frosty and other childhood delights. We remember our own childhood Christmas traditions. It is a time of family, fun and even worship. And now it is a time of mourning…..not just for a few but for all who have ever loved a child.
Christmas as we usually know it has been destroyed this year. But the true meaning of Christmas…the birth of that beautiful baby so many years ago….has not changed. “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.” That babe was born to bear our burdens and our pain. He was born that healing would be possible. He was born that we might live again. He was born that love might always conquer evil. It always does. It always will.
Even just one day after the horrific event, the outpouring of love is tremendous. We hear of heroes, we hear of sacrifices, we hear of love and caring in every shape and form. The entire country is “mourning with those who mourn.” Evil abounds but so does goodness. So does love. And that’s what Christmas is all about. That’s the view from my side of the street, what’s yours?
But as soon as my computer warmed up I saw the breaking news and learned of the tragic shooting/killing of a classroom full of first graders and their teachers. Can a reaction to such tragic news even be described in mere words? I began to sob and cried unto the Lord, “O God, we can’t keep living like this! Our babies, our babies, our babies…… we can’t keep doing this! Please bring an end to it all soon. How much more wicked can the world get? How much more must happen?”
I know some of the pain that these families are experiencing. Again there is no language available to describe emotional pain that cuts to your very core and leaves you unable to breathe. It is pain so intense that you are sure your body can not possibly survive it. But broken hearts don’t stop beating even when you wish they would.
And our hearts break with them. What kind of hate and hurt would cause someone to slaughter these innocent children? They have just barely entered society and have only begun to learn its ways. While all of this countries shootings have saddened, this one devastates.
This is the time of year when our minds are on children’s joys and surprises. We share secrets and talk of Santa, Rudolph, Frosty and other childhood delights. We remember our own childhood Christmas traditions. It is a time of family, fun and even worship. And now it is a time of mourning…..not just for a few but for all who have ever loved a child.
Christmas as we usually know it has been destroyed this year. But the true meaning of Christmas…the birth of that beautiful baby so many years ago….has not changed. “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.” That babe was born to bear our burdens and our pain. He was born that healing would be possible. He was born that we might live again. He was born that love might always conquer evil. It always does. It always will.
Even just one day after the horrific event, the outpouring of love is tremendous. We hear of heroes, we hear of sacrifices, we hear of love and caring in every shape and form. The entire country is “mourning with those who mourn.” Evil abounds but so does goodness. So does love. And that’s what Christmas is all about. That’s the view from my side of the street, what’s yours?
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