As a mother, I pray every single day for the safety of my son. When I drop him off at school and give him a kiss good-bye, I pray that God will watch over him and keep him safe while we're apart. I pray that God looks after Wesley and all the children at his school so that they may all be returned to their families safely at the end of the day. These are prayers not unlike, I'm sure, the millions that are prayed every day for all children everywhere, the prayers of mothers and fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers, aunts and uncles.
And that is why the tragedy of Friday resonates with me. Even though I am physically far removed from Newton, CT, my heart is a mother's heart and it has broken into a thousand pieces for all the victims at that school. It is a horrible irony that such a terrible event should happen at this time of year, when Christmas lights twinkle in windows and every store is playing Christmas songs while customers shop. This is not the time for sorrow and grief but a time of joy and peace, or so it should be.
But someone forgot to check the calendar, and so this time of childhood wishes and sugarplum dreams is marred by an all-too real violence that has left in its wake broken innocence and tiny caskets. The world got mean on Friday, life got mean on Friday, and this most wonderful time of year has been, for some, forever changed. The Devil played his hand, and like the Grinch, has tried to steal Christmas from us by turning our green and red wreaths into black ones.
I cannot imagine what those families in Connecticut are going through right now, nor do I want to. I have cried for two days, refused to turn on my computer for fear of reading the horrible stories, ignored my Facebook and Twitter accounts so I would not have to read the sympathetic posts, and have tried to find some peace with what has happened. Finding peace has been important, for this is the story that broke me. Unfortunately, school shootings are much too commonplace in today's society, and I have wept and prayed through far too many of them: Columbine, the Amish school, Virginia Tech. Then there are events like the Aurora, Colorado movie theater and, of course, September 11th, which was violence to the nth degree, but it was this one in Newton that broke my heart. It could be due to the fact that the victims were mostly between the ages of 5 and 10, or it could be the time of year, or it could be a combination of both. My son will be 4 in March, so this terrible moment in time struck a chord with me, this great day of sorrow during what should be a joyous time.
And yet, I've come to believe that the Devil in playing his hand has erred greatly. He forgot to check the calendar. He has tried to steal Christmas from us all by striking us where it hurts the most--at the children. And he has most certainly left a great gaping wound that even those of us who are physically removed from Newton can feel. But he has erred. Evil has snuck in to this time of year when love should dominate, but evil cannot win.
Because Christmas is coming.
This is what I have reminded myself over and over the last few days. Christmas is coming. It cannot be stopped, possibly delayed, but not stopped. Christmas is coming, and it will bring with it as it always does the gift of hope and love absolute. No evil can stop it. It is God's gift to us, and it cannot be stopped no matter how many times the Devil strikes. A great evil took some precious children from this world and everyone, including God I'm sure, wept at the senselessness and cruelty of it, but Christmas is coming. And there will be one child born in a manger whom the Devil will not be able to strike down, no matter what he does.
They say that when life gets cruel, that is when you need Christmas the most. My prayer for the people of Newton is that they reach a point where they are able to find Christmas again. I know for many of them, this season will never be the same. How can it be? Yet I pray that the peace and hope of this season will find them very soon, if not this year, then perhaps next year. For the rest of us, the ones who are able to hold our children in our arms and kiss them and tell them we love them, let us do so. And let us remember that though our hearts are broken right now, though we weep with and for the families in Connecticut--let us remember the hope that is a little baby boy is coming, and in this can we find our greatest comfort.
The day of tragedy will not defeat the season of hope. God loves us, each and every one, and Christmas, His gift to us, is coming.
