{"id":17757,"date":"2018-02-15T14:09:35","date_gmt":"2018-02-15T19:09:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/?p=17757"},"modified":"2018-02-15T14:09:35","modified_gmt":"2018-02-15T19:09:35","slug":"ash-wednesday-and-valentines-day-forever-marred-by-school-shooting-one-mom-reaches-out-to-comfort","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/?p=17757","title":{"rendered":"Ash Wednesday and Valentine’s Day Forever Marred by School Shooting – One Mom Reaches Out to Comfort"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Photo Credit: John Ragai, Flickr<\/a><\/p>\n

Guest Blogger: Carrie McKean<\/a><\/p>\n

[The image described in the post below appears to have been taken down by the Associated Press. This Facebook posting below was so beautiful, I reached out to the writer and she gave permission to post it here. McKean begins by talking about this lovely visibly distraught mother comforting another mother. My hope is that she did not lose a child yesterday. She is wearing a silver heart (for Valentine’s Day) around her neck and the ashen cross on her forehead from a visit to her parish church that Ash Wednesday morning. The rest of the post is easily understood given the school shooting yesterday in Florida<\/a>, leaving 17 dead and a dozen or more injured. News outlets and social media today are slammed with public outcry and political jockeying. McKean, the writer of the post below, eloquently speaks her response to this devastating loss.]<\/p>\n

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I can\u2019t get her face out of my mind. Sobs wracking her body as she stands outside her child\u2019s school, clutching a friend as though they have discovered the only truth there is to know: The only way through this war zone is if we carry one another. Her head is smeared with ashes. From dust you came, to dust you return.<\/em><\/p>\n

I saw the picture when the ashes were still fresh on my own skin. And I thought about the moment my pastor drew his thumb across my head \u2013 reminding me of my mortality and my security in the no-matter-whatness of God. Despite the somber words I certainly didn\u2019t consider, as little specks of ash fluttered down and brushed my eyelashes, that I might leave the church and end up in the ER or in an accident or getting a phone call that takes me to my knees. And this mama, with her pretty white-flowered shirt and silver heart necklace, certainly didn\u2019t consider that she might leave the church and end up on the front lawn of her child\u2019s school with her heart broken apart, begging God for one more day with her baby\u2026 for more life out of this dust.<\/em><\/p>\n

We need a savior, and as we start the long march of Lent that leads us to the cross, we know Jesus is coming to break the shackles and the bonds and restore all that\u2019s broken. But you don\u2019t need a savior if nothing is shackled, bound or broken. So Lent starts in repentance. Did the shooter know the day he chose? Did he choose Valentine\u2019s Day for a reason? Was his heart so broken that he felt like the only way through the war zone was to take others out? Oh God, we need to repent… for not recognizing our own part in this tragedy.<\/em><\/p>\n

Talking heads are already starting to argue. Is it mental health or gun control? Hurry, pick your side. We retreat into corners and start pointing fingers. Thoughts and prayers sound hollow when these shootings have become so commonplace that they are just another blip on a relentless cycle of terrible news. We wring our hands and sigh and then we forget. It doesn\u2019t even come up at dinner. Ashes. It\u2019s all ashes. We\u2019re going down in flames. Screaming louder and louder at one another as if we think the only way through this war zone is to pull someone else down so we can climb on top. Oh God, we need to repent… for being so afraid that we won’t be heard that we can’t even listen.<\/em><\/p>\n

As bullets ricocheted off classroom doors and lockers in Florida yesterday, I walked down the locker-lined halls of my daughter\u2019s school. A first grade Valentine\u2019s Party is pure sweetness and light and sugar. We had the kids do an activity where they each drew the name of a classmate and listed out some of their favorite things about that child. As they exchanged cards, I saw eyes light up and broad smiles spread across frosting-smeared faces. One little girl said reading the card she was given made her feel happy and bubbly inside. I looked around the room and wanted to freeze time. To keep these little kids little \u2013 tender and eager and open-hearted and bubbly. In 10 years, which one will be the loner? The misfit? The outcast? The popular one who uses his or her platform to push someone else down? Oh God, we need to repent… for letting kids fall through the cracks.<\/em><\/p>\n

I returned from the party to our church which is positioned across the street from one of our city\u2019s high schools. The day before, the same high school was on lockdown because someone brought a gun to school. A trigger away from a tragedy. Each day after school, hundreds of students \u2013 maybe even the one who brought a weapon to school \u2013 traipse through our building to the free soda fountains. A ministry of carbonated beverages. I sat down at a table and played UNO with some kids whose stories brim with sadness and mistakes and bad choices and loss, covered in a veneer of bravado and toughness. How close have I been to a kid who is screaming to be seen and known and loved and valued and is a hair-trigger away from exploding their grief outwards and propelling us to the national headlines? For all their toughness, I can\u2019t help but wonder if anyone gave them a card when they were seven that listed out all the best things about them? Oh God, we need to repent… for being too busy to engage the hurting and the lonely.<\/em><\/p>\n

We may be mere dust, but we are each dust formed into the image of a living, breathing God. We may be returning to dust, but we each know this life is precious and deserves protection. God forgive us for forgetting our own worth. Forgive us for forgetting the worth of those around us. Forgive us for failing to see your reflection in the eyes of the stiff-shouldered, clouded-eye high school kid whose hoodie is pulled up, guarding him from the world but not containing the pain metastasizing-into-anger that is seeping out of his soul. Forgive us for giving into polarization and assuming that since \u201cthey\u201d aren\u2019t doing anything to solve the problem, we can\u2019t do anything either.<\/em><\/p>\n

Father, forgive us.<\/em><\/p>\n

And help us remember: The only way through this war zone is to carry one another.<\/em><\/p>\n

Carrie McKean<\/a><\/p>\n

These Are the Victims of the Florida High School Shooting<\/em> – Alexandra Ma<\/a><\/p>\n

At Least 17 Dead After Troubled Former Student Allegedly Opens Fire on Florida High School<\/em> – Nina Golgowski, Sebastian Murdock, and Carla Herreria<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photo Credit: John Ragai, Flickr Guest Blogger: Carrie McKean [The image described in the post below appears to have been taken down by the Associated Press. This Facebook posting below was so beautiful, I reached out to the writer and she gave permission to post it here. McKean begins by talking about this lovely visibly … Continue reading Ash Wednesday and Valentine’s Day Forever Marred by School Shooting – One Mom Reaches Out to Comfort<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3396,690,2126,1705,50,2556,18,2611,1437,870,1102,4159],"tags":[5678,1018,5681,5677,1007,5683,463,5674,1835,1003,292,5682,2960,5679,5675,5680,5676,2534,1009],"class_list":["post-17757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-america","category-babies-children","category-community","category-conversations","category-god","category-grief-and-loss","category-jesus","category-love-your-neighbor","category-mothers","category-neighbors","category-social-media","category-trauma","tag-alexandra-ma","tag-ash-wednesday","tag-carla-herreria","tag-carrie-mckean","tag-cross","tag-florida","tag-grief","tag-high-school-shooting","tag-jesus","tag-lent","tag-loss","tag-marjory-stoneman-douglas-high-school","tag-mothers","tag-nina-golgowski","tag-parkland","tag-sebastian-murdock","tag-shooting","tag-trauma","tag-valentines-day"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pauPAB-4Cp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17757"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17757\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17761,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17757\/revisions\/17761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}