As I write this, my children are picking up their children from school. And holding them very close. Because some parents of little schoolchildren in Connecticut will not be able to do that tonight. Or ever again.
I'm feeling what millions are feeling right now - all of us who have a child we love and can't imagine losing. It's just a deep heaviness in my spirit. Suddenly obscuring the "sunshine" of the Christmas season.
I watched a President, with tears in his eyes, simply saying, "Our hearts are broken." It wasn't so much a President talking - it was a parent who sends his daughters off to school every morning.
As I've tried to sort out my own racing thoughts and feelings with the unfolding news, my heart has landed on the only bedrock I know. God's unchanging Word, the Bible.
I found myself quoting again a verse that has sustained me and my wife through decades of parenting and grandparenting. It doesn't answer all our questions on this tragic day, but it provides some solid ground for a parent to plant their feet on today.
"God tends His flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to His heart; He gently leads those that have young" (Isaiah 40:11).
This is a day to put the name of a child (your "lamb") you love in that verse - "He gathers _____________ in His arms and carries him/her close to His heart." You can't be with them everywhere they go. He can. He is. Carrying them close to His heart. As a parent, you need to know that today. As a child, your son or daughter needs to know it, too.
Don't forget your part of God's promise: "He will gently lead" - put your name here - "________________ who has young." He's promising to guide you in every situation, every decision, every conversation with the child He's entrusted to you.
On a day when I was suddenly faced with the possibility that I might never see the love of my life again alive, another word from God just took over my mind. "I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that He is able to guard (I put my wife's name in here) _____________, who I have entrusted to Him until that Day" (2 Timothy 1:12). And He did guard her. He would have guarded her even if she had gone from that hospital to Heaven. And I know He would have guarded me, too.
That's another promise to hang onto on a dark and tragic day. It's because of these Biblical anchors that a Mom or Dad can say - even when your parent's heart is unsettled: "God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and love and a sound mind" (2 Timothy 1:7). Whatever the news of the day, God knows a parent will make wrong choices out of fear and right choices out of faith.
On days like today, I'm so grateful that Jesus is real, that Jesus is close - that Jesus is a deeply personal Savior. He offers to do life with us, to bring into our lives and those of our children the love that made Him die for us. And the power that brought Him out of His grave. He's promised that "I will never leave you, nor forsake you" (Hebrews 13:5). Or the children we hold dear.
The children sing in Sunday School, "Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world." They're so right.
| At our homepage, you'll find a banner leading you to "Seven Ways to Pray in Times Like These," along with a P. S. I wrote about praying for today's tragedy. I hope it will help you, your family, your small group, your church know how to pray at this moment when prayer is so urgently needed. You can find it at hutchcraft.com. |