Monday, December 17, 2012

Our Only Promise

The ease of pulling a door open is unnerving when it is at your children's school. Unlocked, unarmed, easy access--it was today for me, so close to devastation. How long ago was it unnerving to find your children's school locked up? Years ago, I am sure.
Does any other parent feel like we are venturing into a new frontier? One where our simple trust in a kid-friendly environment is ever questioned? Where a parent has to cope with that unsettling seed of tragedy threatening to sprout reality and strangle their very heart?

Birth pangs. A promised labor is upon us. A darkness that's threatened for centuries is finally demonizing, revealing itself in all it's horror. How easy it is to weep, to grit our teeth and be overcome by the terror, the destruction of all that was innocent, all that was good.
The darkness of our times is not unknown by our God. He warned us. He lived it on the cross. Christ bore the sin of a crazed boy who stole the lives of innocent children and teachers, the hearts of parents and policemen. He felt the horrific storm that brews a quiet sadness inside each of us. Upon the cross He was crushed with our horror. 

The cross seems so much bigger to me today.
That grip on the school door just reminds me of the only thing worth clinging too. I realized, that as I let go of the door and stepped across the threshhold, that nothing of this world is worth clinging to in hope anymore. As it should be. Colossians 3:2 says:


Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 

So as I drove past my boys' school, knowing they were settling behind their desks, their BRAVE teachers conducting lessons as expected, I set my mind on things above. I prayed for angels at every entrance, I reminded my heart that I am called to raise these boys as strong warriors, that they will embark on more darkness as they grow but Christ promises an ultimate victory--A GLORIOUS return where all the darkness will tremble, crumble, and fade away in the presence of His EVERLASTING LIGHT!

This world will fade away, but what will remain is WORTH WAITING FOR!

Lean on Him. HE is the only promise in which we can truly rest.

2 comments:

  1. Beautifully written. I could so easily give into my fear. It was hard for me to give hugs this morning and send my children off. Oh how i want to protect them. I know, though, that someone even bigger and better never takes His eyes off of them. This fallen world is so scary, but Jesus is with us.

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  2. Great reminder for today. I've been thinking about the story in Mark when the storm was upon the disciples in the boat--fishermen by trade that would definitely know their way around storms. They were terrified of dying, so it had to have been one heck of a storm, and yet it says Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. Even during the greatest storms of our lives, God is in control. The storm doesn't scare him. He is so much bigger. And though the water might be very nearly cresting over the edge, with Him in our boat, we will never sink. And don't ever forget, perfect love casts out fear ;) Praying for you and your kiddos today.

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