We will not forget.
It was the cutest thing in the world. While my two year old daughter, Ember, relaxed in my arms on Christmas Eve, drifting towards sleep while staring at the lights on the Christmas tree, she whispered to me the question, “Christmas here?” “Yes Ember, Christmas is here. “Baby Jesus, Christmas presents?” “Yes, it’s Jesus’ birthday and tomorrow we open Christmas presents.” With a smile on her face, she faded into dreams that made her giggle in her sleep.
It was one of the sweetest, purest moments of joy I have ever seen. I did not think that I could possibly love that little girl any more, but I was wrong. With that expression of pure joy, my heart latched onto her even tighter. I will not forget that moment. I will not forget.
There are other moments, of course. Like the other day when Ember asked two year old Mavis to play ring-around-the-rosy and Mavis said, “No.” Unfazed, Ember joyfully spun on the floor by herself singing, “Ring around rosy, pocket posy, ashes, ashes, fall down self!” I am not going to forget that moment either. I will not forget.
Moments like that capture your heart and drive you, as a parent, to do anything for your child.
If foreign military tanks were to roll over the eastern hills this very moment, destroying all in their path, I would do anything to keep any of the little ones in my care safe. Like Joseph, I would flee with the little ones held close, through the wilderness, to a foreign land if need be in order to provide them a future…in order to keep them safe…in order to give them a life.
I cannot even fathom forgetting them and fleeing myself. I will not forget. We will not forget.
That is the choice that parents around the world are still forced to make. Following in the footsteps of Joseph, with children holding tight to their hearts, parents flee governments and mobsters who do not care.
Fleeing from modern day Herods, dads and moms hold their little ones close as bombs fall on areas of Syria.
Like the Israelite people fleeing Egypt who feared the ruthless leader of their time, families today gather on flimsy boats in the Mediterranean, hoping the sea will deliver them safely to dry land.
Teenage girls in South American countries like Guatemala are sent by parents who spend their life savings on a dangerous passage of terror in the hopes of getting them across the borders of the United States, away from the gangs at home that would invade their houses and rape the girl's young bodies.
The possibility of facing United States extradition courts are well worth the extra time bought to save their lives and save their bodies.
All of this is done in order to preserve the lives of those children who have given their parents memories like when Mavis folded her hands for the first time at dinner and prayed, “Come Lord our guest, gifts us blessed Amen,” or when a four year old little Trinity took to the pulpit after church and proclaimed her first sermon to an audience of one, “All have sinned, Jesus says come back.”
We do not forget those things. We do not forget our children. We will not forget.
Even when tragedy strikes, as we see in the pages of the bible, God will not let the faithful forget a single one of these children.
When Herod discovered that the wise men had deceived him, and not given him the location of the future Messiah who would be a threat his family’s power, Herod sent soldiers out and slaughtered every child age two and under.
To the powers of the world, children are expendable pawns in a greater game. Not so with God!
Every single life is precious to God. Every single life was crafted and sculpted by the Almighty as clay in the hands of an artist. And, when that life is taken away too early, God boldly declares that God will not forget. God does not forget even a single hair of their heads. God does not forget, and neither will we.
The powers of the world want us to focus on the greater significance and dismiss the collateral damage for the greater goods. God does not turn a blind eye so easily.
Jesus asks us directly, "What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off?” God does not forget even a single one of us. Even when we wander, God will find us. Since God does not forget God's children, neither will the people of God.
So, when God directs us to remember the slaughter of the children and to remember that "A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled, because they are no more" we will not turn a deaf ear. We will still mourn 2000 years later for those very children who did not get a chance to run away from their parents naked after their baths. We will mourn for them because children are not pawns to be played with by political leaders or anyone else for that matter. They are God’s gift. We will not forget.
When we read that 50,000 children have been bombed and shelled to death in Syria, we will not act as the world does and say, “That is just the way it is over there, nothing to be done.”
No.
Each of those 50,000 children had their lives stolen from them. And, even more children 6 years and younger have no idea what a life without war, grief and bloodshed even looks like. Their innocence has been stolen.
We will not forget them. We will weep with Rachel for every single one of them because they are no more. We will not forget.
The people of God do not forget. We do not forget evil. We do not forget the corruption of power. And, we certainly do not forget the gifts that God have given to us, the children of the world who have been taken away too soon.
I may not be able to do anything directly except to influence my own national leaders, but by-golly I will not forget. We will grieve, we will make sure it does not happen here, and we will not forget. God does not forget. We will not forget.
A two year old boy and his 5 year old twin sisters run around the dinner table, giggling as they play the simple game of chase in Allentown, Pennsylvania. They do so with food in their bellies donated to them by the local people of God. The refugee family from Syria has been shown by God a place of peace and love…a safe haven from corrupt rulers that do not care about their children. The children now run, and sing, and memories are made while falling asleep, staring at the night lights.
Not all children find safety, but none are forgotten. Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me.” And, so they come. Either in life or in death they come, because not a one is forgotten. God does not forget. We will not forget. Love never forgets.
No comments:
Post a Comment