Unthinkable

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Unthinkable.   As I sat in the precious lower school Grandparent’s Day performance watching my little one sing cheerful Christmas songs, I received the first newsflash on my phone.  Shooting in an elementary school.  Somehow it did not seem real.  Or maybe I just didn’t want my mind to even go there.  Too close to the heart.  Too horrible.  Too much. 

Throughout the day, more updates.  More horror.  Thankful for print media, I found myself avoiding television.  Can’t watch the faces.  Can’t hear the horror stories from the mouths of babes.  Little ones like my own experiencing terror beyond belief.  They should be having their own Christmas programs, not hiding from gunmen in locked bathrooms.  I can’t even let my mind wander there for fear that I may lose it completely, melting into a puddle of sobs for these poor families.  It is simply TOO MUCH to bear. 

If anyone ever had doubt, let today’s events put that doubt to rest.  Satan is REAL.  Not a cute little devil with red horns and a pitchfork, but an angel of darkness, who comes to steal, kill, and destroy.  Pure evil, through to the core.  And his fury is being unleashed because he knows his time is short.

I pray that through this unthinkable tragedy that people will be drawn to the source of light and beauty.  The one who gives abundant life and freedom- Jesus, the Christ. 

I hope that this Christmas, people see beyond the Santas and toys.  The material things that dominate the Holiday season will never fill the void that we all innately have.  There is no amount of material goods that will ever make these families in Connecticut feel better about what has happened today.  Toys and donations will never bring true joy- to the giver or the receiver. That is nothing but a lie that the evil one Satan wants us to believe.  Dear friends, joy and life come from none other than Jesus.  He came so that we may have life, and have it to the full.  How poignant that we are in the season of celebration of His birth! 

As I continue on towards Christmas, I feel a prompting to pray in a way that is different from Christmases past.  We have just witnessed evil in its truest form in the events that unfolded today.  May that awaken us to things spiritual, and lead us as a nation to seek the Father, the giver of life, the one true light in this world.