no words will fix this. nothing i do or say can make it better. this tragedy will forever change everyone. nothing will ever be the same, especially for those families who lost their sweet little ones.

after hearing the details about this heartbreaking news at school on friday, i was floored. i work with little ones. they are my life.i’m not their parent or anyone’s parent, but i feel like they’re all mine. i love them with all of my heart and would do anything for those precious children. all i wanted to do was love on my kiddies and never let them go.

what i have a hard time coming to terms with is why anyone would ever take someone’s life?  what’s worse is how someone can hurt such a small, precious child? how can anyone take the life of a tiny, defenseless, helpless kid? that’s what hurts. that shooting could have happened anywhere. what if it happened to my preschool babies? when i see those precious faces on the tv my heart breaks even more. it’s real. there’s a face to the people we lost. they were brothers and sisters, daughters and sons.  those kids had their whole entire lives ahead of them. they liked to color. they liked to play with friends. they liked laughing. they were 6 and 7. they were looking forward to Christmas. now that will never happen. it hurts.

i have been glued to the tv and the internet wanting to know more. my heart hurts. everytime i see their faces, tears roll down my face and i get a big lump in my throat. i want to do something. i want to help those parents and families. i want to take their grief. i don’t want them to hurt. i can’t even imagine how they are feeling right now. i would be completely devastated if anything ever happened to my preschool babies. i don’t know why i am like this. when people hurt, i hurt with them. i wear my heart on my sleeve, so i guess this is my way of mourning. i want to mourn with them. i want to help them. and to me, this is my only way i now how, by weeping with them.

the morning after the tragedy, something really touched my heart and inspired me. a father of emilie parker, one of the victims, talked about how he was handling things. his heart was broken. he lost his first-born child. she was the light of his life. he talked about how she was an artist and inspired everyone around her. he talked about her compassion and how, if she were here, she would be comforting those around her. while he was upset and terribly missing his daughter, something was different about him. he had a sense of peace over him. he talked about our need to cling to God during this time and to have faith. he wasn’t bitter. he even talked about praying for the shooter and his family, saying he sent his love and support to them through this time. how beautiful is that? while this parent is grieving deeply, he still showed love and kindness to the family of the one who took his daughter’s life.

that is love. that is Jesus. that is good conquering evil.

in this time of darkness and heartbreak, i pray we all find peace.

as i was reminded in church yesterday, a while ago a similar situation was happening. a man was taking the lives of newborn baby boys in fear of a king who would one day rule over them. he wanted to prevent that from happening and his solution was ending their lives. that baby he was afraid of, was Jesus. and in all that darkness, a light came through. God sent His Son to bring hope and faith to the people during that terrible time.

 out of the darkness, His Light will shine. God will heal the hurt. He will bring peace and comfort. He will overcome this (john 16:33). let’s have faith. i pray we come together as a country and comfort each other. let’s put politics aside and stand as one. this hurt everyone, no matter what you believe in. let’s rise together. support each other, pray for each other, and lean on each other. good will come out of this (romans 8:28). remember these angels who are no longer with us and let’s start living. make a difference. if we unite, we can prevent something like this from happening in the future. be kind and love one another. show compassion to those around and let the light shine.

be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you [ephesians 4:32].

my heart and prayers are forever with those families. God bless them and bring them peace and comfort. amen.

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