My heart breaks…

I haven’t written about the shooting at Newtown because I can’t process it.  It seems so different than theatre shootings and mall shootings – those are places of pure entertainment being violated, but at the same time not really safe in the way a school is considered safe.  It seems different than university shootings and high school shootings – it wasn’t one of their own frustrated or disturbed by someone or something.  It was someone from the outside (with only a few connections, but not to the little ones it seems) who entered unwelcome and uninvited into an otherwise innocent setting.  And it was small children who should not know about these things – and certainly not need to witness these things. 

We read about child soldiers in other countries and think about the atrocities of war in other counties and how that violence must rob the young (and frankly, the old) of their innocence and suck out some of their hope.  But this is here, and this is our country, and we cannot deny that this violence that we for so long has insisted is “over there” is, in fact, over here. 

What then do we do with this? Do we blame guns? (I tend to believe guns that hold more than one bullet to shoot one helpless deer seem pretty unnecessary…) Do we blame the lack of mental health services?  Do we blame the parents?  Do we blame the society?  Do we blame media source – video games, movies, TV, etc?

Or do we just lay down and accept it as “just the way life is” and give up? 

Or do we take a different path – believing that God, for reasons we may never understand, allows things to happen in our fallen world?  Do we trust that God was there for those children and teachers/staff when we could not be?  That God will heal the hurt that is in the souls of so many and allow it to rise up for good? 

It is just SO HARD.  And I feel so small.  I am thankful for a God who is bigger than this and knows what will come. 

I read on another blog (Mennonite Girls Can Cook) a prayer written by Max Lucado, that I thought was worth reposting and reading and believing.  I have pasted it below.  Please continue to pray for all of us – and especially those closest to the tragedy – as they walk through Christmas this year.

Dear Jesus,
It’s a good thing you were born at night. This world sure seems dark. I have a good eye for silver linings. But they seem dimmer lately.
These killings, Lord. These children, Lord. Innocence violated. Raw evil demonstrated.
The whole world seems on edge. Trigger-happy. Ticked off. We hear threats of chemical weapons and nuclear bombs. Are we one button-push away from annihilation?
Your world seems a bit darker this Christmas. But you were born in the dark, right? You came at night. The shepherds were night shift workers. The Wise Men followed a star. Your first cries were heard in the shadows. To see your face, Mary and Joseph needed a candle flame. It was dark. Dark with Herod’s jealousy. Dark with Roman oppression. Dark with poverty. Dark with violence.
Herod went on a rampage, killing babies. Joseph took you and your mom into Egypt. You were an immigrant before you were a Nazarene.
Oh, Lord Jesus, you entered the dark world of your day. Won’t you enter ours? We are weary of bloodshed. We, like the wise men, are looking for a star. We, like the shepherds, are kneeling at a manger.
This Christmas, we ask you, heal us, help us, be born anew in us.
Hopefully,
Your Children