Stand Beside Them
"May God bless you with
discomfort at easy answers,
half truths, and superficial
relationships, so that you
may live deep within your
heart.
May God bless you with anger
at injustice, oppression,
and exploration of people,
so that you may work for
justice, freedom, and peace.
Many God bless you with tears
to shed for those who suffer
from pain, rejection,
starvation and war, so that
you may reach out your hand
to comfort them and to turn
their pain to joy.
May God bless you with enough
foolishness to believe that
you can make a difference in
this world, so that you can
do what others claim cannot
be done.
Amen."
- A Franciscan Blessing
I encourage you to read this blessing a couple of times, and really think through, am I allowing God to breakthrough and show and teach me these things?
I come to today’s writing completely crumbled into pieces. Yet, I have so much hope!
Let me expand on what is got me crumbling and crushed: in one part of the US we have leaders sitting around a big table attempting to flatter one leader with exaggerated compliments and encouraging making LIES great. In another part, we have two parents that attempted to report their baby missing, when in fact they knew he was not missing. The “system” failed this child by not taking prior child abuse charges as serious as all child abuse should be taken. In another part, there have been at least four shootings in 24 hours. The most recent at a Catholic School, during Mass, where PK-8th graders were attending with their teachers and parents. As of the moment of writing this two children are gone, they were praying, on a pew, during Mass, with zero warning that there was a threat on the outside of the building. And many others in the hospital.
Any crime against a child, no matter how small or big, frankly I don’t think you can compare crimes committed against children, they are cruel and always stir up the most emotions in me. You mess with a child, you have messed with a life that had so much ahead of them, so many first experiences, it’s something I get sick over.
Just one other thing before I move onto the glimpses of hope I have seen just today. And that is, a comment made by our president last week on the subject of the Ukraine and Russia:
“If I can save 7,000 people a week from being killed, I think that’s pretty— I want to try to get to heaven if possible,” Trump said. “I’m hearing I’m not doing well. I am really at the bottom of the totem pole. But if I can get to heaven, this will be one of the reasons,” he added.
First, I have attached an article that does a good job of explaining why this is so off from what Scripture actually says. Second, I have opinions on these meetings, but they are not for this post. But the one thing I will say is this, if we don’t start pointing our fingers at ourselves about people dying in our own country due to preventable causes, we also will stand before the Lord. We are loosing children at a rapid rate due to guns, sickness, mental health, and so many other things that could very well be prevented.
Onto the glimpses of hope I have seen and heard today:
In the press conference about baby Emmanuel and the charges against his parents, it was said, we will make sure that this time we have a proper investigation, all the correct charges, and the punishment that lines up with the crimes committed. This is hope! Because we know that there have been multiple children already taken from these two and their homes.
In the press conference about the School shooting, the mayor was visibly upset and rattled. The comment that he made that keeps replaying in my head is this, “These parents need more than thoughts and prayers. They need you to come stand beside them.” I couldn’t put it any more perfectly. Lucy didn’t run ahead this way, but any news that is a shock, whether you have had a child hurt, or you are grieving a child, or you have a child that witnessed it, we can all stand, sit, be a calm presence in their shock and processing. And even when you can’t physically be there, you can still stand with them, fight with them, pray specifically for each child, each family, gather their names, the head of school, the teachers, the mayor, the investigators, the hospitals, the doctors, nurses, help staff. No one’s job is too small to cover in prayer and thank yous!
My hope rest in His Kingdom. And in the waiting, I find glimpses of hope in the ones who don’t shut off the pain, suffering, real, vulnerable. They pursue the questions and confront the lies. They speak the truth and show emotion. They sit with, do life with, silent with, listen with, hear with, talk with… Most of all they know and acknowledge the great value of every person, every life, and do what is needful to fight for dignity in all stages of life. Period.
The picture today is of Lucy just a few days after being discharged from the NICU (almost a month old). We were snowed in, so “newborn” pictures became a hotel photography session challenge😊 Thankfully I had all my cameras! I also have a picture of her in this swaddle in the ER just five months later. It is so true, He has us all in the palm of his hand!
Life Book of the Week: You are With Me: Prayers for Every Part of the Day, by Birgit Antoni.
