As I’ve already started enjoying Christmas festivities with my family, my thoughts have wandered to those parents in Newtown, Connecticut and I wonder how they’re coping. I lost an uncle to cancer this week, and at one point, my Mom busted out in tears as she told me she had already bought him Christmas presents. I told her I felt we should donate them, and do our part to pay it forward.
For these parents though, part of me just can’t fathom how it would feel to lose a child so young. Even as a person of faith, how do you reconcile with that grief and loss, even if you believe it was preordained? It’s almost too much. So, as my thoughts drift to these dear people, I pray. I feel that’s the most I can possibly offer them, as I believe prayer moves mountains, and I can only imagine the mountain of pain they are still trying to cope with.
The tragedy in Newtown brought many things, unfortunately, one of which was the expected cry for gun control from the progressive left. As this article points out, ‘gun restrictions have always bred defiance’ (H/T Instapundit). They punish the law abiding and further encourage those already willing to break the law to accomplish their goals.
I can certainly understand the sentiment that Christmas in Newtown will never be quite the same again. Yet as we all strive for answers and the hope that tragedies like this can be prevented in the future, are we focused on the issues that will actually achieve that? It’s obvious to those with an iota of common sense and rationale, that stricter gun control is not the answer, that is proven. With that said, I do think we need to be compassionate towards those that have lost loved ones as we express our desire to have a sensible dialogue, one that is not politicized with an agenda.
Overall, I am encouraged by the messages of hope that have been pouring into Newtown. It is my hope that this will continue, and that these people will move forward in the healing process, as slow as that might be right now. Keep praying for Newtown and let us be mindful that during a crisis is not the only time we should unify as a country and pray.
…if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
2 Chronicles 7:14
