Troubling Times

When I first heard about the tragedy in Connecticut my first thoughts were, "wow that is extremely sad"...I was sad about it but to be honest it didn't really hit me DEEP. It wasn't until Saturday morning when I got up to get some food out of my fridge and look at the Christmas cards staring right back at me. I realized wow....my nieces/nephews are 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7. One nephew is in 3 yr old preschool, one in 4 year old preschool, one in kindergarten, one in first grade, and one in 2nd grade.


I really began to put myself in their shoes, then it became quite overwhelming. The amount of pain and loss these people are feeling has to be nothing short of unbearable. The pain of losing a loved one is terrible...but then add the feeling of anger and resentment and you have a whole new situation. These people didn't just "lose" their loved ones, they had them taken away from them.


My reason for writing this is, in church today the topic was forgiveness. We are always taught how it is important to forgive, that in order for us to be forgiven we too must forgive. However, when we're taught these lessons we always relate them to a friend who has wronged us or someone who stole from us...no one ever talks about forgiving someone who has taken the life of our child, mother, sibling etc...forgiving a friend who lied or betrayed us is hard. It really is a hard thing to do. Forgiveness can be tough...but how, how do you ask someone to forgive the person who took the life of their child. I wish I could give you an answer, I wish it was that simple...but it just isn't.


One thing I do know is...even if someone doesn't "deserve" our forgiveness it is so important that we do just that. Contention is of the devil and it is so hard to see the beauty of the world and the light of Christ if we are consumed with anger and resentment. If we don't forgive these people it will consume us...it will keep us so focused on the ugly things this world contains that we will be blinded to the beauties that the world has to offer. Please don't misunderstand me and think I am saying this is an easy thing to do because that would be exactly opposite of what I think.


I was talking to my friend Alex about how I felt, how it was just filling me with sadness and fear, and he made a great comment...


"It is heart breaking, gut wrenching, and soul draining. But we can't be the ones to let our hearts fail us. It will be even more sad if the people of America, and more specifically the people of the church, succumb to the wickedness and think that that is just how it has to be."

I couldn't have said it better myself. If we don't take it upon us to keep finding the light and more importantly keep spreading the light, the darkness will take over. It is extremely overwhelming to look at all that needs to be done in the world, but that doesn't mean we can give up.


Point of the post...forgiveness is hard in our daily lives, forgiveness in tragedies like this--> a whole different story (undoubtedly the hardest thing these people will ever face). However --> if we don't forgive, if we don't let go of the anger and resentment then the people committing these crimes win. They will suck the light out of each one of us if we let them. It is important for us to continue to find the reason to live, to find the light and beauty in each day. To fight for the children to come.


This post is dedicated to the victims and families of the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting. May our hearts and prayers go out to them at this time.