The month before Sophie came into our lives, the market tanked. People were going broke, banks were broke, discouragement, and despair was the norm, and there was not much confidence. I was obviously uncomfortable at night (pregnancy has the habit of doing that to a person), and would wake and lie in bed, thinking about the world. Thinking to myself "how can I possibly bring a new baby into this world, so full of uncertainty and turmoil?"
There are days- like a few months ago- like yesterday- that those thoughts come back to my mind. I say "how am I to parent in a world like this? How could we have decided to bring two such loved little girls into this crazy, uncertain, volatile place?"
I want to shield them. I want to guard them. I want to protect them with every morsel of my being. Protect from harm, protect from hurt, protect even from the slightest adversity. I say things like that I'll homeschool and keep them from going anywhere without me.
Then I take a deep breath and really consider...
What if the people who have felt such hatred and anger that they decided to bomb someone had their life touched early... perhaps in school? Perhaps instead of being bullied or treated poorly, or led to believe violent acts are just, what if they were shown kindness and love and friendship? And what if that bitterness- that has the potential to start so young- never, ever was given roots to develop to this point, simply because someone showed them they are loved? And what if it was your child or mine that showed a lonely and broken child how to forgive and be kind... show them that they are loved and created by God and cherished? Showed them that harming others is wrong?
Sheltering our children from the world and all its sadness and brokenness sounds so appealing sometimes... but when we hide ourselves and our children, we also hide the potential to bring joy, bring kindness, and bring love to one another. We are imperfect people, living in an imperfect world, but with God's help, we must try to change the brokenness with hope... hope, not despair.
So we'll pray for the broken-hearted in Boston. We'll pray and have hope.