Connections

May the Lord have mercy on those who are hurting.

My thoughts have been on those affected by the tornado in Oklahoma, as I’m sure yours have been, too. I’ve been thinking of those injured, of those who have lost their homes, and especially of those who have lost loved ones.

Tuesday evening I worked until about 8, then my husband picked me up and we stopped by a little diner in town for a bite to eat.

I’ve been deep into newspaper layout and editing today and didn’t come up for air very often. So Larry caught me up on the news from Oklahoma. He had been able to watch the evening newscasts.

I listened to his stories, and I realized that we’re both drawn to the personal stories, to the stories about individuals who experienced the storm, to the ways people are helping each other.

We talked about how we would handle something like that happening in Altavista, and neither one of us could truly imagine what it would be like find our home gone, our town destroyed, our lives devastated in that manner.

I would hope that we would react like so many did in the stories Larry told me: with strength, with compassion, with pluck.

I would also hope that I would remember that there were many, many people praying, sending healing thoughts, giving money and water and just connecting.

I wish I could remember it all the time. It seems like I remember it best in times of tragedy in this world. And that is this fact: we are all connected. We are all connected.

May the Lord have mercy on those who are hurting.

In what ways do you feel connected to others during hard times?

Praying for Boston

All evening I’ve been trying to piece together what to write. Even now, as I sit and type, I’m not sure what to write next.

I’m sad, along with many, many people around the world, about the tragedy at the Boston Marathon.

I cannot add any words to the conversation about why people do these kinds of terrible things.

I can pray, and have prayed, but I’m not the best at prayer. That’s when words seem to be in the way, not my friend.

So I have turned to the prayer that my minister shared after the Newtown tragedy in December:

Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.

Your prayers may be different. But I believe that your prayers, whether they be formal prayers or thoughts of concern or sad feelings, will join with all the other prayers lifted up, and they will all be for good.

Praying for Newtown

I’m sure that the thoughts and prayers of all of us have been with those involved in the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut on Friday.

I can’t truly imagine the depth of the pain that the families of the victims and the survivors are feeling.

I feel like all I can do is pray, and praying is not always easy, especially when my thoughts and feelings seem numb from the shock of such news.

On Friday, as news about the shootings came out, my pastor posted the following on Facebook:

In the face of the violence we have seen today in CT, the most appropriate prayer seems to me to be a simple one: Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.

That’s what I have been praying: Lord, have mercy.