Children are God's gift to you and I. On June 20, five of these gifts, these jewels in God's creation, were taken from all of us.

Surround your heart around the children in your life and pray for them and with them. Give thanks for their blessing among us. Let this be a reminder to also surround their parents with prayer, love, affirmation and an empathetic ear. Knowing the parents of our children and students can have far greater implications than positive development and academic achievement. Embracing parents and caregivers as an integral part of our ministry can make the difference between life and pain or even death for the children we love.

In the hours and days that have followed June 20 we heard many explanations of what drove their mother to executing her children. While the facts are a bit more clear today, we know she gave birth to these children, carried each as part of her every breath for nine months - then snuffed out the very lives she celebrated at some point in her own life. Yes, we may hear explanations, but those explanations may never really address our own question of Why? Really, Why?

Safe Havens is a favorite term and 'cause' out there. Creating and contributing to safe havens at home and in school must be a primary focus for us. Inviting parents to participate is not enough. Reach out to those who don't freely participate, who express their 'busyness,' who tell us they are just fine. All the research and data are clear that more than half of the violent crimes committed toward young children are committed by their parents and caregivers. We are not powerless. The danger is we will feel bad and awful followed by “but, what can we do?” Being serious and intentional about understanding every parent and homecare giver to be part of our ministry in an active way is a place to start. Feeling there is nothing we can do leads only to us progressively ignoring these tragedies so that we don't have a feeling of powerlessness. We become desensitized because we choose to ignore that over which we feel we have absolutely no control.

I pray none of us become desensitized to murder and violence. It has become such a part of the fabric of our society and world there is a danger we just don't notice as perhaps we once would have. Our programs of peace and creating a culture of non-violence must continue or become established. Be more aggressive in seeking out food, health and financial assistance programs for families as financial pressure is often a cause of such drastic behavior in our money driven society. Let this event serve as a time to put our ministry in perspective. Consider your school issues that cause you to toss and turn at night. Then reflect on the real importance of your ministry among children and families.

In just a few hours five children stopped living, stopped playing, stopped dreaming. They are among the twelve children who will die a violent death today. Today the news continues to report the story of the five, but will neglect the twelve who will die today and the next 12 tomorrow.

Pray together for strength, for wisdom, for guidance. Pray for a mother who must have been in severe pain to have committed such a heinous act. Pray for all parents and children. Pray like you mean it - because prayer does matter. We are not powerless with the knowledge of Jesus' promise, "I will always be with you."

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