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Monday, December 17, 2012

{simply} PRAY



I have a daughter who is a 4th grader. She IS my only child.
I take her to school & pick her up every day. I am blessed to be able to do that.

On Friday, after hearing the news, I called the school to discuss the 'lock-down' procedure, the safety issues, etc. as I wanted to know what the protocol was at my daughter's school "just in case" . . . .and felt a little better. I then thought about how sad it is that my child even knows what a "lock-down" drill is - oh how incredibly sad times are now. I wanted to have a sense of peace about sending her back to school after the weekend instead of the feeling of never letting her out of my sight again!
 
Today was unsettling.
As I am sure was the feeling as many of you this morning . . . I had 'different eyes' dropping off my only child at her school this morning. 

As I pulled up to the school, I was looking at all the doors, watching the teachers standing out greeting the students, checking out how/ where the school is situated on the street . . . 
I waited even longer - an extra minute today, before pulling away so I could watch & make sure my daughter was through the doors of the school before pulling away . . . and it made me anxious. VERY anxious! 

I hugged her extra tight & said about 10 more 'I love yous' before I let her out of the car. And you know what? There is NOTHING we can do except TRUST & PRAY. Every day. 

We are helpless in this insane world against evil. We feel frozen with fear sometimes because we feel as there is NOTHING we can do to make our nerves just a little more settled. It makes our guts tied up with anxiety & our focus all over the place. We feel as though it is ALL out of our control. But we can do something. 

TRUST. We can trust that God is taking over when we can't be there to watch our children. We lay our fears at His feet & TRUST. We never stop praying or maybe for some of us we START praying. We TRUST that this is enough.

We CAN start by being kind to one another. As I sat my daughter down this weekend to 'explain' a version of what happened Friday before she headed back to school, this was one of my focuses with her. I explained that everyone can DO something to help all of those precious angels who are no longer with us. We can always treat people with KINDNESS - always & every day. We can take the time to say hello to people, stop & open a door for others or lend a helping hand to someone in need. We can stop being so 'busy' & take the time to think of others more. Sure we all should be doing this all the time but sometimes these small gestures are BIG gestures to others.

I also told her that we can PRAY for all those souls lost as well. We can PRAY for everyone to be nicer to each other. We can PRAY to take the time to invest in people & make sure they are OK. We can PRAY that people can get the help they need, when they need it.

This is what I told my 9 year old. My 4th grader. I was nervous discussing this with her, for fear that she would be scared to go to school this morning but she was fine. Mommy wasn't. But she did fine. Kids are resilient. Amazingly so. They just want to know that we are going to make their world ok and as safe as we can and then move on. And she did. As quick as I told her, asked if she had any questions, answered them . . . she was back to playing and laughing - just as she should be.
  
I PRAY for the parents this morning that wish they had the option of dropping off their kids & worrying. PRAY & TRUST in God. That is the ONLY way any of us are going to get though this. God bless all of our children this morning & keep them safe. Also pray for all the parents of the angels gone too soon. ♥


1 comment:

let me know you were here . . .