What’s Happened to Us
I was sitting outside watching my kids enjoy the first warm day in a long time when I received a text. The message informed me of another school shooting. I told my friend that I was so happy I didn’t watch the news. I had to break-up with the news awhile ago. If I continued watching I would have to start taking anxiety and depression meds. It’s all too much.
My friend text and asked me how we keep letting this happen. She wanted to know why this is even a thing. Her heart was broken and so was mine. Please make this stop.
Our homes are a mess. We aren’t paying attention as parents to our children. We aren’t instilling in our kids that they matter to us. God is gone. Wiped clean from the foundation of family. We’ve let Satan move in and don’t even know it. My heart breaks. Our children are so broken and it’s totally preventable and fixable.
It all boils down to Jesus.
Think, for a moment, where we place our value and worth. This is our problem. We are all guilty of placing our worth in everything BUT Jesus. We completely fail when we do this and so do our kids. Our children don’t know they matter because we can’t put our phones down for five minutes to listen to them. Look, there are times when I have heard enough about Minecraft, but it matters to my son. So, I will sit and listen to him tell me about a diamond pick ax and the latest underground chamber he’s created because HE MATTERS. Our kids are hurting and we don’t even realize it. Our eyes are fixed on everything else but them and Jesus.
We can’t take away the guns and not solve the why and vice versa. We have power over the why right this very minute. That power resides in our homes. And let me just say, our homes do not have to be perfect in order to be a part of the solution to this epidemic. My home-life growing up was chalked full of trials, traumas, and tragedies. Life was far from perfect. Yet, I always knew three things: I was loved, I was valued, and my parents were proud of me. Regardless of our life’s circumstances, I knew those three things and they got me through some hard times. They even get me through struggles today. And when we can’t be the source of value for our kids, that’s when our Roommate fills the void. This is why Jesus has got to move back in.
Our kids just want to feel valued, loved, and accepted. That will never happen without the love of Christ. Nor, will they feel worthy if parents don’t instill that their kids are valuable to them…that they matter enough for the parent to stop what they are doing, look their child in the eyes, and listen.
We will be side-tracked and debate why a school shooting happened again: looking at everything outside of the bulls-eye. All the while, we are completely missing the root of the problem: the lack of Jesus in our families; the lack of value we as parents show our children. It is crazy what we have become without even realizing it.
At some point, we have to stop blaming everyone and everything else. We have got to stop looking all around us and start looking within. We cannot wait any longer for someone else to do something. We have more power of this than we realize. It’s time we take action and that action starts in our homes. Tell Satan to pack his bags because Jesus is moving back in.
When I think about why these shootings keep happening, I think of the shooter. How much pain is one in to commit such a horrid act? What deep-rooted hurt is he dealing with? This absolutely does not excuse the act, it gives reason to it. Maybe, if we looked straight into the eyes of the shooter, we may start paying attention.
It is time to stop debating. It is time to stop asking why. It is time to stop pointing fingers.
It is time to start looking inward. It is time to start loving our children again. It is time to start paying attention. It is time to let our kids know they are valued and they matter. It is time Jesus moves back into our families.
It is time.
Love & Blessings,
Meg