Photo by Timothy Eberly on Unsplash
I call on you, my God, for you will answer me; turn your ear to me and hear my prayer.
Psalm 17:6
We were still reeling from the news in Buffalo when the horror of the Texas school shooting hit the airwaves.
Unthinkable. Unimaginable.
Sadly, not uncommon. Not unusual.
Predictably, social media lit up with the memes.
Not helpful.
I did a whole lot of hiding.
I did break my own rule on Twitter, when a podcaster that I admire snarked that the NRA was being hypocritical because they weren’t allowing guns into the session with President Trump.
I merely pointed out that even the article that he linked to pointed out that this was a Secret Service decision. When you want a former President and certain levels of others, you abide by the rules set by the Secret Service.
It doesn’t matter which President. It doesn’t matter which organization. The Secret Service makes the rules.
Eight years of association work where I planned events for Presidents, Vice Presidents and others. Rules are rules.
That’s not today’s point. I should not have engated the Borg.
What disturbs me even more were the memes. Again, I did a lot of hiding.
The ones that bothered me said something along the line of “your thoughts and prayers don’t matter.”
And your profile flag does? Sorry, that’s not helpful either.
I do agree that just saying our thoughts and prayers are with you is pretty meaningless.
Unless you actually pray.
I have tried in recent years to make it a point that if I say I’m going to pray for someone, I actually do it.
I believe in prayer. I believe in a Heavenly Father who hears, and answers.
So, yeah, prayer matters.
I know that much of what we’re seeing is out of frustration. We don’t know what do do. We don’t know what to say. We feel helpless.
Well, except for those who have the policy “solutions.”
So, snark if you must. That’s not helpful either.
If you say you’re going to pray, then pray.
Twice this week I’ve come close to preaching. Take it for what it’s worth.
I don’t have the answers to the senseless violence. I have opinions, just like you.
But I can pray. So I will.
So can you.
And maybe cool it with the meme posting.
American poet and songwriter, Julia Ward Howe, was born on this day in 1819 (d. 1910)
BORN ON THIS DAY
1909 – Dolores Hope, American singer and philanthropist (d. 2011)
1911 – Hubert Humphrey, American journalist and politician, 38th Vice President of the US (d. 1978)
1922 – Christopher Lee, English actor (d. 2015)
1923 – Henry Kissinger, German-American political scientist and politician, 56th US Secretary of State, Nobel Prize laureate
1935 – Lee Meriwether, American model and actress, Miss America 1955
1936 – Louis Gossett, Jr., American actor and producer
BENEDICTION
The Lord will keep you from all harm—
he will watch over your life;
the Lord will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.
Psalm 121:7–8