white noise probably

Oh man. My kids…in a perfect world, I would not have to explain to you that there are people who kill children for no reason. I wouldn’t have to tell you that evil men with guns sometimes come into schools and shoot anyone they can find, they just shoot ‘em dead. I should be able to tell you that we’re doing everything we can to keep it from happening again and again, that we’re not just shaking our heads and shrugging our shoulders and saying “Welp. What can be done?”

I wish I could tell you it’ll never be your school or your teacher or your friends or you, that the next trending hashtag won’t be our hometown. I shouldn’t have to have this conversation, not with a 7 year old or a 14 year old or any year old.

This is not supposed to be real. This is a movie. And it shouldn’t even be a movie. Why would anyone watch a movie like this? Who is entertained the by cold-blooded murdering of innocent babies?

In a perfect world I wouldn’t have to explain to you what abortion is or why women seek it. I shouldn’t have to go over and over privacy and safety rules for your body because no one in the church should ever think to hurt you or your brothers and sisters.

I should be able to say that all grownups will love you and protect you. Good guys will get the bad guys. Leaders care about their people. The strong look out for those who are smaller and weaker.

I should be able to tell you that it will never happen to you—that you won’t get shot at school, or raped in church. Your house will never get bombed and you won’t get kidnapped from the store.

You should be worried about imaginary monsters under your bed, or volcanos erupting, or aliens invading (legit concern, IMO). You should be thinking about what you’re going to paint or build tomorrow, or how you’re going to be the fastest kid in second grade next year. You should be saying your prayers and thanking God for Jesus and a beautiful world where you roast marshmallows and catch lightning bugs and fall asleep reading a Berenstain Bear book.

But here we are.

We live in a place with mean people and big guns. Voicing concerns about that in Oklahoma virtually equates to social suicide…but damnit, I do have concerns and I’m mad and I’m sick to my stomach.

Parents and children are suffering and people go hungry and schools go underfunded. The rich prey on the poor and the powerful prey on the vulnerable. Things aren’t just unfair; they’re insane and unjust, upside down & inside out, and if it weren’t for sweet children like you, I wouldn’t care to live on this planet.

But you do exist, and I do care, and I can’t bear to sit and do nothing.

So I speak, because to stay silent would be cowardly and sinful.

I vote. Because some things are just plain wrong no matter what the world around you looks like; some things need to change no matter what you were conditioned to think was acceptable.

And I try to build a beautiful life for you, and provide a safe home for you, where you do roast marshmallow and catch lightning bugs, and I try to teach you that, while your world gets uglier and uglier, you must shine brighter and brighter—and that you must do whatever it takes to pass that light on to others.

Be kind. Be forgiving. Be compassionate. Be generous. Be welcoming. Be stupidly, extravagantly, dangerously good to others. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength; and love your neighbor as yourself.

Fight, not with weapons against an enemy you can see with your eyes. Fight with every ounce of your spirit; fight to stay gentle in this harsh place. Fight to stay pure and holy in a world that plays dirty.

Refuse to believe that God doesn’t hear your prayers. Refuse to believe there’s nothing you can do while you wait on the Lord. Refuse to believe that people are inherently evil. Refuse to believe your faith is worthless. Refuse to believe that all is lost because, my babies—my sweet, sweet babies—there is always hope. Always.