A Child's Heart

As the tragic events of yesterday unfolded in the media, my husband and I discussed openly with our children what had taken place.  While it is extremely important for us to shelter our children from opportunities to sin and from the influence of godlessness, we decided long ago that our children should not be sheltered from "the world" but should be aware of the evils lurking, that their eyes be open and hearts soft to the distiction between God's way and the world's (or man's).  

Yesterday was a perfect example of what the world is.  I don't think that my kids, at such young ages, can fully comprehend what it means that 20 children just like them were killed mercilessly, for no apparent reason.  Eyes blinking and lips pouted dramatically, they said, "that's really sad.  I hope that they catch the man who did it so he can't hurt anyone else."  That was more or less the reaction I had expected.  

My husband and I spoke about the hurt that the families will be struggling with, knowing personally a family who has been on the unimaginable journey of grief for the last year, and praying for them to find comfort from the Comforter.  We talked about the additional heartache of the timing of the tragedy.  Presents bought, perhaps even wrapped for children who are no longer here...20 funerals planned days before what is known as "the most wonderful time of the year"...every year at Christmas to relive the memory...

my mothers heart is broken

But I quickly moved on to pontificating about the spiritual and political matters at the heart of it all.  We 'big people' began to discuss BIG subjects like gun-control and the perils of assuming that repealing the second amendment would solve the violence problems we face as a country.  We talked about the issues of our public school systems and the sad truth that godlessness breeds godlessness, thanking God for the rights and freedoms that we have enjoyed as a home school family.  All things that my kids heard, but may not quite understand...I didn't expect them to.

What I really didn't expect, however, is that the heart of my seven year old daughter would bring me back to the reality in which I should exist, that she would prick my heart with a conviction that I had missed the point entirely.  

As we prayed as a family that night, each taking turns, my little girl prayed for the families of the children who were killed, as I had, that they would find God and be saved...
but then...
then she prayed (not knowing that the 'bad guy' too was dead) 
that "...they would catch the bad guy so he couldn't hurt anyone else and that he would get saved too."  

We had missed it, but she hadn't!  All of our talk about a godless culture, godless government and schools, misguided laws, etc. and we had missed the simple fact that at the bottom of it was one young man who didn't have Jesus and needed Him as desperately as anyone.  THAT is the only real solution to the problem.   My little girl could have been frightened, could have been as angered by his horrible choices as we were, but what came out of her heart was a desire for that wicked man to be forgiven and saved.  That was the real answer and she knew it. 

Oh that we all would have the heart and mind of a child!