wednesday writings: thoughts on newtown, connecticut

The terrible news of Newtown, Connecticut, it breaks my heart. New England, as I experienced it when I lived in Boston, was always sensible and systematic, more peaceful and judicious than other regions of the States. Picturesque and charming, inviting though still reserved. Which is exactly why none of this makes sense. Why all those children? My heart is breaking, the unspeakable pain is taking over. The tragedy of the shooting; the precious lives of those children. How did the world ever get like this?

A day off from work today has given me time to think over these things. To pray over all the emotions inside of me, to ask all the questions I have.

With silent cries, my prayers go out to the families who lost a precious child. To all the people who lost a loved one, to the town that will never be the same. As people are looking for someone to blame; as they are asking where God was in all this, because there is always someone to ask that -- I pray that they would truly come to know Him. To know the One who heals our hurting, who offers comfort and peace, who is Love. In this world we live in, we feel we must earn everything; yet when a tragedy strikes, we find we never earned it. We try to make sense of it all and when we can't, we give up and create a world suiting our own views. A place where all that matters is ourselves; a place where we must come first and be served the way we like.

Yet there is a hope, in a world that is so hopeless. It still doesn't make sense, to be able to have everything without having to earn it. To have hope and love, comfort and peace. It doesn't make sense that there would be One who loves us with immeasurable, unconditional love that doesn't have to be earned. So I pray that in the midst of the tragedy that does not make sense, people would find the One who eventually makes sense of all of it. There will be years of unspeakable pain and hurting; of missing  the lost ones; of gripping grief and heartache. So I pray He would be found in the midst of all of this.

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;

His mercies never come to an end;

they are new every morning;

great is Your faithfulness.

"The Lord is my portion," says my soul,

"therefore I will hope in Him."

-- Lamentations 3:22-24

Because His heart is breaking so much more.