Be Light and Love Now

It was no accident that I blogged last Friday morning about having hope and joy in the midst of the brokenness of this world.

Immediately after I hit "publish" and posted the link on facebook, I was confronted with the tragedy of what happened in Connecticut. As the day went on, and the story was told with more clarity, the truth got worse and worse. The verse I blogged about spoke even deeper to my soul: "I will not cause pain, without allowing something new to be born." says the Lord. Isaiah 66:9 NCV  How could this be? I don't know. But God can redeem all things. And to that truth I hold tight!

Life is full of paradox and contradictions. This week I have wrestled with some of them for sure!

• On one hand I know that God was with those children and teachers, holding them as they experienced the fear and horror of the shooting and death around them, but on the other hand I cannot fathom how He could let it happen!
• On one hand my reaction is to call for armed guards at every school's entrance, and in the same breath I want to ban guns from existence.
• On one hand I want to hate the murderer and denounce him as pure evil, and then my next thought is to grieve deeply for his own mental illness and how he was bullied and treated poorly throughout his young life.
• One minute I'm praying for those precious victims and grieving the loss of the lifetimes they had before them, then the next I am thankful they are safe and sound in the arms of their Creator, and instead I grieve even more deeply for the children who survived and still have to live on earth with the horror of that day in their minds - a fate that seems even worse to me.

I won't ever claim to know for sure how to deal with evil and horrible tragedies like this, or how to legislate best to prevent them. I also can't claim to understand God and how He allows such things to continue - or how he allows His Name to be dragged into the mire of it all.

What I do know is that we are to be light and love to this world at all times, to all people, and in all circumstances. Divine Light and Love lived through us is the only thing that can stand against such things. Words and even beliefs fall short, but actions prove our hearts and create change. 

Richard Rohr wrote this about the Word of God and our belief in it:

"We do not think ourselves into a new way of living. We live ourselves into new ways of thinking. Without action and lifestyle decisions, without concrete practices, words are dangerous and largely illusory."

How I treat the least in my life when no one is looking is the testament of how I truly feel and believe! What a convicting thought! Oh, how I need to change!

That annoying little kid at the class holiday party yesterday who kept begging for another cupcake: What if I had knelt down and looked into his precious eyes, giving him my undivided attention and unconditional love for that moment. He probably would not have seemed annoying to me, but would have been a blessing to my heart, and mine to his. (I'm sure Adam Lanza could have benefited from more people in his life giving him the unconditional love and undivided attention he needed.) .... Father, forgive me!

As I have pondered this week questions like, What is God thinking? How can God redeem these families whose hearts are ripped to shreds over their loss? What are we to do?... these words of Rohr's also spoke deeply to me:

"There is probably no other way to understand God's nature except to daily stand under the waterfall of divine mercy and then become conduits of the same flow."

What a beautiful image I hope to make part of who I am and how I live! That is really the only answer to any of this. I am to immerse myself in God's mercy, love and light so much so that it flows out from me onto all those around me.

Be Light and Love Now to All. That is what will change this broken world!
Too simplistic? Possibly Yes... but probably No.... Either way, let's just begin to live it, and let's see.