When Christmas Hurts

26 Wednesday Dec 2012

Posted by Seeking Peace in Christian Living, Faith

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I remember Christmas being a wonderful experience for many years. The joy of getting out of school, family and friends, presents under the tree and food, oh the wonderful food. In my college years it was a time of seeing old friends and telling and re-telling stories of days gone by followed by a changing of times as work and holidays collided. Then came the glory years with kids of my own. The start of the great years, of the exuberance of children and the joy in their eyes and actions. Those were the best days of my life. Then came the divorce and Christmas Day changed forever.

Forever changed and forever aware of new realities. Aware of how many people hurt more than usual at Christmas. Aware of how many people are suffering and how the Christmas season intensifies the suffering. Aware how words of joy for some are words that hurt for others. Aware that while some rejoice in gathering with family and friends, others hurt more being in that environment than being alone and quiet.

I still enjoy the idea of Christmas but the 25th of December is a day I know comes with pain and I hurt for those who are hurting. This season will be over soon and a new year begins and I pray that those who hurt during this time will find healing and peace in the year to come.

Grace and peace.

Hurting

15 Saturday Dec 2012

Posted by Seeking Peace in Christian Living, Faith, Prayer

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hurting, kids, killing, lost, love, murder, tragedy, wounded

What happened in Newtown, CT yesterday was a tragedy that will never be able to be explained. 20 children dead. 6 others killed. Why? Why? Oh Lord, why?

There will be loud and incessant chatter from those blaming God and guns over the next few days and weeks. All of those people are missing the issue.

I cannot begin to fathom the mental torment of someone who walks into an elementary school and starts killing innocent people. I cannot. I cannot begin to fathom the mental torment that a Jeffrey Dahmer, a Unibomber, a Adolf Hitler must be dealing with. I cannot. But, I do know it exists.

There are people who choose to take their own life instead of the lives of others. They too are going through a level of mental torment that many people cannot understand. It’s a mental torment I am closer to understanding. Some overcome it. Many don’t.

The challenge is not that guns are available. Do we ban ropes? Sheets? Knives? We allow people to operate cars who are drunk. These are all symptoms of a bigger problem. A problem revolving around mental and emotional issues. A problem that is often swept under the rug. Or ignored. Or laughed at. Or locked up. Certainly a problem that carries a stigma from many of the “normal people” running loose pretending they don’t have problems.

I haven’t met one single person that wouldn’t benefit from counseling. Not one. I’ve met a bunch who don’t think they need it or who just won’t go but I don’t know any who haven’t battled wounds and scars that need healing and need help.

We will never legislate evil out of the world. We will never have enough laws to prevent evil. Only love has overcome evil and only love will ever overcome evil. Love for the hurting. Love for the battle weary; love for the scarred and the scared, the wounded and the hurting, the lost and alone.

Today I will call people I love and tell them I love them and I am here for them. I will also consciously look for others who are hurting, who are enduring problems that no one wants to talk about. I will pray that God brings those people my way and allow me to reach out to them, not to fix them, but to only love them.

Grace and peace.