One day, not too long ago, my honeygirl asked a question. She asked, “if God knows everything then why did he allow you to get married knowing you would get a divorce?”
What would you say to that? How would you answer that question for a ten year old?
I answered her but I wonder what you would say.
Category Archives: Christianity
Merry Christmas to you and yours
Christmas trees, candy canes, family, friends, laughter, food and fun are all the things that bring a smile to my face when I think of Christmas’ past. Seeing my cousins and playing a game of tag or pop the whip; watching my great-grandmother cook, sitting down to eat a feast fit for family are other childhood memories.
While I am thankful for those memories, today I am thankful I have full understanding of the reason to celebrate this day. Love sent love down to love me and you.
Merry Christmas!
Questions
If you are of the faith that believes there is a heaven and hell once this life is over, I have questions for you. Is there a get into heaven free card when you die a tragic death? No matter your previous choice to believe or not, whether you wanted to be reincarnated or just wanted it all to end at the end. Do you make the list to get into heaven depending on how you die?
I ask these question because of posts on Facebook, the media and other conversations I have heard or had concerning recent tragedies. Everybody assumes the people who were victims of the senseless tragedies all went to heaven. Dare I say it is presumptuous of us to think the adults all wanted to go to heaven or the families of the children want them in heaven. Are the assumptions more about comforting those of us who are here and needing reassurance they are in a better place? Is this thought a disregard of other faiths as a result of arrogance? Or is it simply our default way of thinking and reacting?
I am sure there wasn’t any malicious intent. However, there doesn’t appear to have been the conscious acknowledgment that maybe, just maybe they wanted a different choice for their afterlife.
Mary did you know?
One of my favorite songs of the season is Mary did you know. I wonder what were some of the things Mary thought when Jesus was suckling and looking at her with a sweet smile.
Not every mother knows she will carry a baby that will change the world as an adult. Klara Hitler didn’t know. I’m sure she never dreamed of the tragedies that would occur at the hands of her baby boy. When she first felt him move and when she prayed he would not die in childhood as some of his siblings did, I’m sure she didn’t know.
When we as parents hold our breaths and wait for the first cry. When we smile broadly at the first steps. When we celebrate the milestones of childhood. When we shower our offspring with words of encouragement and rebuke, kisses and hugs, I’m sure we don’t know. We hope they will become productive citizens of society. We pray they will live a life that is reflective of our love. But, we don’t know.
My heart is heavy for the mother’s and father’s whose children don’t live a life that reflects the love they were given. I’m sure they didn’t know their children would grow up to kill a room full of children or a theater full of people or an airplane full of passengers. I’m sure they didn’t know.
At the same time that I grieve, I rejoice. I rejoice that Ruth Patton encouraged her son and that Barbara Bush supported her children and that Alberta King put a dream in her son’s heart early on. But I’m sure they didn’t know when they carried those babies they would grow into world changers.
Mary may have known some of the story but she didn’t know the entire story. As she watched her son grow into a man, I’m sure she didn’t know how his life would end and that his story and her story would be told and sung throughout the world.
Mary did you know?
Can You Imagine This?
You are sitting in your living room or laying in your bed watching TV, reading or sleeping and all of a sudden there is pounding on your door. Then members of the military break down your front door, go into your bedrooms and pull your baby boys out of the bed and kill them right there in front of you. You are helpless and can’t do anything to stop them. Why are they doing this? What happened? Why me? You grab your baby into your arms and cry out to God. Why!?!?!?
You look at your husband and he looks at you. He tried to stop them but he was beat up and knocked out. You tried to protect them but you were slapped in the face, kicked and held back. Why!?!?!? If they didn’t come to your house, how many of your neighbors do you hear screaming and crying in the night and throughout the day. What do you do? What can you do?
Matthew 2:16
When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.
At the time that I originally wrote this, my two youngest would have been two and one. They would have been killed along with all of the other baby boys on that horrendous night. I have so many questions about that night. Did they take them away or did they kill them in front of their parents? Did the parents ever figure out what why it was done? Did they ever forgive… Would I have been able to forgive whoever was responsible for taking my baby boys from my life? Tough questions but questions I ask nonetheless. I would like to think Jesus paid a visit to those families when he was older and comforted them.
All That Chatter 