"And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don't know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groaning that cannot be expressed in words." Romans 8:26 (NLT)
This was the scripture my Kinlde had for me this morning. Perfect for the events of the recent past. Guns and threats of shootings in a Target on Black Friday, last week a shooting and killing at a mall full of shoppers and most recently the tragedy of loosing the children to a shooting in a school in Newton Connecticut.
I think these events are unrelated. Just random acts of violence. At the same time we have the news on TV, the chatter on facebook, the radio, the internet, to bring all of these events to our attention. I am not blaming the media at all. It makes them all come together in some strange way. I think there is a fine hard line between reporting the news, being respectful of these tragic events and reporting the really awsome wonderful news stories. Like the Beitel School 4th graders hosting a garage sale where all the proceeds went to hurricane relief , over $2000 was raised and donated.
There are no answers. I do not even know how to pray. I take comfort in knowing that the Holy Spirit knows what is in my heart. He will pray for me.
I do know that prayer is not enough for me. I am an action oriented person. I take God's commandment seriously to "GO OUT into the world." So my reaction to recent events is not to tell people to lock up thier guns. Not to find cynical pictures to post on facebook. I will selfishly thank God that my family is safe for the moment. Hug the daughter who is begging for pizza for breakfast. Revel in the fact that the adult members of this family are either first responders or at this moment in class learning to be.
At work, I will defend beyond what the administration deems ok, those children who are being bullied on the playground. I would hope that they could have a safe zone with me, to talk to share to cry to work things out before the big explosion happens. Everyone needs an adult to care about them. To the bullies beware, I will be watching. You are not allowed on my playground. Come out expecting to make a fellow classmate feel bad. I can guarentee that you will be stopped. How? I don't know exactly, there is always garbage to pick up around the school grounds or nasty lunchroom trays to be stacked, or extremly windy and cold corners to stand in. Whatever you will not take delight in making others feel bad.
Everyone, every child deserves to feel safe and cared for when they are at work. Kids your work is your school.
I have written enough. These are my thoughts and nothing more. So I leave you to spend some quality time with one of my children watching a movie and eating pizza for breakfast. We may even get around to gettingout of our pajamas sometime today.
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