Newtown-Broken Hearts

I couldn’t bring myself to write yesterday. I try to post every week day but my heart was so heavy for the families of those who lost loved ones in Newtown.

For once I was truly “wordless.”

I don’t have any idea how to stop senseless tragedies. All I know is that now when I look at my Christmas tree with presents beneath it, I am thinking about families who have gifts under theirs for people they are burying this week.  When I watch Christmas movies while holding my granddaughter in my arms, I’m thinking about grandparents and parents whose arms are empty. When I drive past the school where I once taught, I’m thinking about the principal and teachers who gave their lives trying to save the lives of the children entrusted to them.

There is so much sadness and heartache in Newtown that it fills the air like a cold, thick, wet fog and chills the whole world. Even writing about what happened  now I feel guilty because it sounds like I am focusing on how it effects me. This is not about me. What I feel is NOTHING compared to their pain and loss.

All I know to do is pray for them. I hope that just as I can feel the cold, wet, fog of their sadness, that they can feel  the love and warmth of those of us who are praying for their broken hearts.



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39 Comments

  1. It is so sad. I can’t imagine what those families are going through. I feel so guilty sitting here enjoying my family when there’s is broken because of such a senseless crime.

  3. What those bereaved parents & loved ones are suffering right now is impossible to imagine. But the evil & horror of what happened at Newtown has also left the rest of us reeling. We’re all grieving & feeling helpless. In time, we’ll pull together & find a way to prevent this from happening. But for now, we can only send prayers & other help to those who have lost so many cherished hearts.

  7. This is so well put… the only thing that can be said to these people is that time heals all wounds… but I don’t really think these wounds are ever really going to heal…those who are left behind just learn to survive.

  9. Hi Laurie…thanks for coming by and for commenting. I really appreciate it and hope you will come back often!

  12. Hi Bree, thanks so much for stopping by NanaHood….I suspect there will be many awful holidays for them. Pray for them!

  24. It is, indeed, a sad tragedy. I broke down and cried yesterday morning, thinking about the same things you wrote about. My thoughts and prayers are with all those affected by the CT massacre.

  27. Some have asked, where is God? The theodicy question shows it omnipresence in times of deep pain and horrible outcomes. Where was God? has been asked this past week as our nation struggles following the unthinkable massacre of first graders and school staff at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. This is a legitimate question that deserves to be heard, pondered, and responded to by those of us who say we know a loving God.

    In the biblical account of Jesus calming the storm on the sea, in Mark 4, the disciples awaken Jesus and ask him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” In essence they were questioning the Lord presence and action in their time of despair. Jesus rebuffed the waves and wind and brought peace in the middle of their fears and torments. Then Jesus turned the question around and pressed the disciples to be more courageous and consistent with their faith walk. Jesus said, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?” Jesus called for them with their faith to be present during the tough times they were facing. Jesus expects people of faith to be present during the tough times we face now.

    Where is God? I always respond to that question with responding questions. Where was I? Where were you? Where were we? The question, where is God? following a horrendous event assumes the preposition that God acts independently with the sole purpose of keeping us out of bad circumstances. I believe that the divine God has given us a role and responsibility in how we interact with one another and has entrusted us to do good or evil with one another. We are concurrently responsible for one another with God.

    Evil raised it ugly head in Newtown last week and killed twenty innocent babies and six adults before turning a gun on himself and taking his own life. While we can ask, where was God? we need to ask where were we? We have allowed weapons of mass destruction (assault weapons) readily available to the general population and we have made the ammunition for these devices to be as easily purchased as fishing equipment in a sporting goods store. We have allowed loopholes in legislation to permit people to purchase such equipment with no background checks.

    We have made the right to own and shoot guns more significant than the safety of the general population. We love our guns, while we say we hate gun violence. We love to defend ourselves while we say we hate gun violence. We say we love the second amendment while we say we hate gun violence. We have failed to see that guns and gun violence are conjoined. We have not been there to voice that the evil that can come from a person that hold a gun is a greater risk than the evil that comes from a person who does not hold a gun. Were are we? is the question to ask now.

    We have made mental health treatment one of the most burdensome processes for individuals and families to navigate. We have made it easier to get thirty clips for an assault weapon than to get thirty sessions with a therapist. We have ignored families struggling with mentally ill children and have dismissed them as isolated, and problemed families who will see their problems resolved by their own financial wherewithal and with their own micro outcomes.

    I must admit that I have seen God since Friday. In every tear that has been shed and in every cry that has been sighed I have seen God tugging at our hearts. In every hug that has been extended and in every flower that has been place at a memorial I see God saying I care. In every responder that descended on the scene to keep other safe has shown me God at work one person toward another. In every act of kindness by every person in the world that has responded to the single act of unkindness by one sick individual shows me God is here now.

    God is in us. We have to show up and show what good God wants us to reveal. God’s voice and hands will show up when God’s people show up and say, we love; we care; we repent for our lack of action in the past; we vow to make this a world where what happened at Sandy Hook a world where this will not happen again.

  30. You have expressed yourself so well about this situation! Really very sad. My thoughts and prayers go out to all those who have lost loved ones. Thanks for hosting and take care.

  31. You speak for me and for so many with what you’ve said so eloquently here today. I wrote an extremely short post in memory of those that lost their lives that day. It’s all I could do. I had no words, only tears.

  32. There really are no words to describe that horror and the sheer waste of potential in the lives of those children and their teachers. Those families are forever scarred and forever changed. This Christmas will be awful for them.

  34. I’m sure there are no words to describe the pain the families are feeling … hurts just hearing about it 🙁

    Paula
    lifeasweknowitbypaula.blogspot.com

  35. I am so glad you stopped by my blog. I tried to visit earlier this morning and this party wasn’t up, so I thought you weren’t going to have it today. You are right…there isn’t much we can do but pray for them. It is so sad…I just can’t imagine what they are going through. I pray the Lord will bless this community abundantly with his spirit.
    Laurie

  36. Thanks for the touching post. I agree, my heart is so very heavy… wishing you and your family a joyous, meaningful holiday and may it usher a new year of peace, good health, happiness and success.

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