Are We Bleeding Out?

Brokenness defines us, surrounds us and refines us.

A world watches complacent and numb

While life passes without a second glance.

Daily events interrupt elusive peace, but many of us turn the other way.

I ask again, are we bleeding out?

When school shootings fill your newsfeed, does your heart stop?

Violence becomes ordinary in those moments we keep scrolling as if we don’t notice or don’t want to be bothered.

[Tweet “We have a heart issue that causes bleeding out when we scroll past violence as if we don’t notice.”]

As a former teacher, there is so much I want to say. I always assured my students that school was a safe place. Instead, this week another school shooting filled my newsfeed. My heart broke and the words I spoke to my students came back to haunt me.

Schools should always feel safe. School shootings should never feel commonplace and we should believe we can do something to stop the violence.

I know people are already divided on whether it is a gun issue or a mental health issue or perhaps both. But what I know is that it is a heart issue. We are bleeding out and it looks like:

Acceptance of violence as natural and commonplace

Turning the other way

Placing the blame on everyone but not accepting any personal responsibility

Selling out, giving up or allowing the brokenness to win

We succumb to exhaustion, become apathetic and lose the motivation to look twice and actually see.

In Luke 8, we learn the story of the woman who had been bleeding for years. She saw Jesus ahead surrounded by a crowd of people. The woman pushed forward, believing deep in her heart that if she could just reach and touch the hem of his garment, she would be healed. Jesus knew the minute the woman touched Him. Trembling she stepped forward, and Jesus told her not to be afraid that her faith had healed her.

When our hearts turn toward Jesus, we see things more clearly. The deep secrets are no longer covered in darkness because Jesus gently brings them into the light. If we let the light fill the dark places of our hearts, we find an awareness and acceptance inside we didn’t know we had.

Our world struggles with seeking truth, the One truth, found in God. As a people we live with hardened hearts steeling ourselves against the many voices vying for our attention. All I know is that any kind of violence is not okay. As a teacher, my inner momma bear comes out when I hear news that innocent children are subjected to violence. I don’t have the answers for this senselessness, but I know my heart aches.

I am standing on the truth that:

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[k]neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39

 I pray we don’t ever become numb to the violence in schools. May we remember we can make a difference in the unending cycle of violence.
With God all things are possible!
Sabbath Blessings,

 

Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash

Photo by John Peters on Unsplash

 

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