This morning as I was waiting for a skype call, I was scrolling through my facebook feed, and the boys noticed a picture a friend had shared as a link to bring awareness about and advocacy to the tragic kidnapping of the girls in Nigeria. Isaiah asked me who it was and why she was crying. I proceeded to try to give a simplified version of the events. Isaiah, in particular, is quite sensitive to things that might seem scary, so I am cautious with the details and stories we share with him, but I also want my boys to know that there are terrible injustices in this world, and I want them to care about those things from a young age. So, I tried to keep it pretty basic but being honest that there were over 200 girls that had been stolen and were being sold or used for bad things or forced to do things they don't want to do.
The reaction from my boys was both encouraging and convicting. Isaiah right away jumped to, "That's terrible. We have to get them back," to which Ezekiel chimed in that we "will go on a big airplane and go to Africa and get the girls."
Isaiah was not fearful, as I thought he might be but his little mind started spinning with plans to get the girls back. At one point he got a bit concerned, asking me if the bad guys have guns. When I told him that it seems that they do, he was a little worried. "Then how will we be able to stop them?" John and I tried to talk with the boys to make it clear that we weren't going to be going ourselves and that we don't have the skills to stop this directly but that we need to pray and try to let people and governments know that this is a big deal and put pressure on them to help. Frequently, the thoughts kept coming back to making plans on how this can be stopped. John tried to tell Isaiah that some people are not able to be talked to and reasoned with, and Isaiah immediately jumped over to our new house guidelines poster we had put up yesterday and said, "Well, maybe we need to tell them things like this...like 'Love God,' 'Love each other,' and other things like about God."
At one point, he did envision a plan that was that, if the Teen Titans were real, they would be able to defeat the bad guys and get the girls back. :)
The first thing he told his friend when we saw him at lunch was about the girls and needing to get them back.
There is obvious wisdom lacking in the plans that form in my little guys' minds, and I know that situations like this are very complex in many ways. Yet, I wonder how the world would look different if more of us had a reaction like theirs. My adult, "sensible" reactions are to think how terrible it is and to feel sad at such a tragedy and to share links on facebook to bring awareness. But, what if, instead of my action amounting to clicking a button on a computer...not that it doesn't have value, but just what if...my heart jumped "all in" at the news of injustice and was ready to hop on a plane to go and get those girls back?! What if I somehow was captured by how I, how we, were going to stop this...now?! May God keep the hearts of my boys just a bit less "sensible" and keep them ready to fight for these girls and against the many other injustices that they will encounter. And may He make me a little bit more like my big-hearted, courageous boys!
The reaction from my boys was both encouraging and convicting. Isaiah right away jumped to, "That's terrible. We have to get them back," to which Ezekiel chimed in that we "will go on a big airplane and go to Africa and get the girls."
Isaiah was not fearful, as I thought he might be but his little mind started spinning with plans to get the girls back. At one point he got a bit concerned, asking me if the bad guys have guns. When I told him that it seems that they do, he was a little worried. "Then how will we be able to stop them?" John and I tried to talk with the boys to make it clear that we weren't going to be going ourselves and that we don't have the skills to stop this directly but that we need to pray and try to let people and governments know that this is a big deal and put pressure on them to help. Frequently, the thoughts kept coming back to making plans on how this can be stopped. John tried to tell Isaiah that some people are not able to be talked to and reasoned with, and Isaiah immediately jumped over to our new house guidelines poster we had put up yesterday and said, "Well, maybe we need to tell them things like this...like 'Love God,' 'Love each other,' and other things like about God."
At one point, he did envision a plan that was that, if the Teen Titans were real, they would be able to defeat the bad guys and get the girls back. :)
The first thing he told his friend when we saw him at lunch was about the girls and needing to get them back.
There is obvious wisdom lacking in the plans that form in my little guys' minds, and I know that situations like this are very complex in many ways. Yet, I wonder how the world would look different if more of us had a reaction like theirs. My adult, "sensible" reactions are to think how terrible it is and to feel sad at such a tragedy and to share links on facebook to bring awareness. But, what if, instead of my action amounting to clicking a button on a computer...not that it doesn't have value, but just what if...my heart jumped "all in" at the news of injustice and was ready to hop on a plane to go and get those girls back?! What if I somehow was captured by how I, how we, were going to stop this...now?! May God keep the hearts of my boys just a bit less "sensible" and keep them ready to fight for these girls and against the many other injustices that they will encounter. And may He make me a little bit more like my big-hearted, courageous boys!
1 comment:
I hope the boys always seek to right injustice. I hope their hearts are always open to the things of the Lord. You and John are teaching them well.
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