It's downright silly to talk about aches, pains, diseases and ills on a day when 20 little children and eight adults lives were snuffed out in such an astonishingly brutal way. It's hard to imagine any kind of mental state that could lead a person to destroy so many others. it's less hard to imagine why that person would then want to des, troy themselves.
Of course there is all kinds of violence that takes place on our city streets, in homes, schools and a multitude of institutions.The violence is played out around the globe, often for more sinister purposes than what appears to be gross mental illness, but the sheer force of twenty young children being shot to death in one place still manages to slap us across the face. God have mercy on those families in Connecticut, and on the survivors. God forgive us for all of the ways we foster violence and urge it on, even in our play and games. God protect us from ourselves.
Having spent last evening with Mary and Randall close to the first anniversary of the sudden death of their son, it is not impossible for me to understand a bit of the depth of agony that those families in Newtown are experiencing, and will continue to experience for a very long time.
It was striking this evening, to see the people of this stunned New England village gathering together to care for each other and pray the desperate prayers of people who have come so close to loss and now find themselves unable to make sense of the fabric of daily life. The pastor of one of the churches where people were gathering was interviewed and came undone in tears and grief.
These things yield to no easy answers. Grief cannot simply be shaken off like an uncomfortable cloak. In such moments, love seems more like a yawning chasm of pain and loss than a consolation.
This too will pass, but there is no way to make it pass easily. For many people, this is exactly like the cup that Jesus asked his Father to let pass, but in these first hours and weeks and months, and for some - years - the capacity to say, "but not my will..." will be very nearly impossible to even imagine much less say.
My thoughts and prayers today have taken on a whole new "family" of people I know next to nothing about, only that they are in incredible pain tonight. I haven't forgotten anyone else on the list, but the list suddenly got much more crowded.
Louie
I had a good morning, and then the TV switched to the site in Newtown, Connecticut. From that point on I was rivited and clued to the TV. Bonnie came at about 2 p.m., and we watched TV, made granola, and she used my computer to research some Christmas gifts she still needed to find. She did find one, and paid for it, and put it on a hold at Toy's R Us near Ridgedale that she can pick up there on Monday.
Later this evening, Gene's niece Bobbi Jo stopped and we visited and ate chow mein that she had picked up on her way over. Then she ended up leaving the remains for me....it'll take me 4 days or more to eat it all....but it was very good.
Tomorrow we've cancelled and tentivally rescheduled depending on what the weather is doing tomorrow morning at 8:15. So I think we will be going to Jan's for our yearly Christmas gathering of Cherie Gardner, Jan Ranum, and Barb Skiereicki. This year at Jan's. Cherie and Barb will pick me up for brunch at Jans.
For tonight, Love and Prayers, m
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