Psalm 34:1-8
I will always praise the Lord.
With all my heart, I will praise the Lord.
Let all who are helpless, listen and be glad.
Honor the Lord with me! Celebrate his great name.
I asked the Lord for help, and he saved me from all my fears.
Keep your eyes on the Lord! You will shine like the sun and never blush with shame.
I was a nobody, but I prayed, and the Lord saved me from all my troubles. If you honor the Lord, his angel will protect you.
Discover for yourself that the Lord is kind. Come to him for protection, and you will be glad.
Scripture taken from the Contemporary English Version © 1991,1992, 1995 by American Bible Society, Used by Permission.
We cannot ignore what happened in Connecticut. As a kindergarten teacher for 8 years (and a first-grade teacher for one year), I am truly heartsick over this tragedy. My students were my children… and all of them are still precious to me. One of these students contacted me on Facebook yesterday to say…”Thought about you a lot today with all this mayhem! I'm glad we were blessed with peaceful times when we were in grade school and you were teaching. It is just awful what has been happening…” This came from one of my first-graders, with whom I shared the joys of a Christmas classroom 35 years ago. The bond between teacher and child is a profound one.
In my short career, I experienced the sudden death of one kindergarten teacher who suffered a brain aneurysm shortly before I took her maternity leave… and the death of another two years later in a Thanksgiving weekend car accident. Our school lost a first-grader one morning when his bicycle was sucked into the brushes of the city street sweeper as he made his way to school. A few years later, we lost a second grader, when her then 13-year-old brother came into the home one evening and fatally stabbed her, his grandfather, and his mother – a junior high teacher in our school system – and injured his four-year-old brother.
I know what you are thinking… where on earth did I teach to experience so much tragedy? This all happened in a neighborhood elementary school in Russellville, Arkansas… a then-quiet, mid-sized college town. And my point in sharing this today is not to try to minimalize what has happened in Connecticut… but rather, to tell you that we will all get through this!
Immediately after hearing the first reports yesterday, I had this compelling image of Jesus… left arm tightly embracing the beautiful children who had just been ushered to Him…right arm reaching down to scoop up the devastated parents, grandparents, teachers, friends, and community members who were in horrific agony. I pictured tears in Jesus’ eyes… an intense sadness over what had transpired… but also, a quiet strength.
Today, as I read Psalm 34, I listened carefully to the words… “I asked the Lord for help, and he saved me from all my fears… I was a nobody, but I prayed, and the Lord saved me from all my troubles.” We must focus on Jesus now… we must call on Him for comfort and strength. There will never be a way to make sense of what has happened… but we can learn some things from it. We can learn to hold each other a little more closely and cherish every minute of the day. We can learn to be more awake and alert to those in our midst who may be troubled and in need of assistance. We can teach our children about Jesus and the home He is preparing for us… because people will die, and children of all ages need to feel the assurance that heaven is a safe, secure, and joyful place of rest.
We are not going to recover from this overnight. I know this from experience. There will be questions and moments of sheer rage… we will even cry out to God and ask, “Why, LORD… WHY did You allow this to happen?” But at the end of the day, we must recognize that God loves us… He really, really loves us… and He is still protecting us and saving us from our troubles. Picture the victims of this heinous crime snuggled in the bosom of Jesus. Feel His arms wrapped tightly around you, saying, “It may take a while… but you’re gonna be okay.”
One more thing… remember to pray for the brother and father of this murderer. They lost two loved ones. They are hurting. I remember how people ostracized the father of the young man who stabbed his family. Mired in the grief of losing three family members and dealing with the nurture of his troubled son and the little one who was injured, he must have wondered if God – and others - really cared for him. I know that He did… and that many in the community cared, as well. And I know that we must show love and compassion to these survivors, also. They have lost – and suffered tremendously. But God can help them, too.
Praise the LORD today. Set aside some time for prayer for all involved in this tragedy. Then take a break from the news coverage and do something to celebrate the season of our LORD’s birth. Honor the LORD with me. Celebrate His name! Let all who are helpless listen… and be glad!
©2012 Debbie Robus
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