all that I can say

We are a nation in mourning tonight. Many of us woke to news of terrible tragedy and plodded through the rest of the day clinging to our kids like barnacles as often as the squirmy little ships would let us.

We are slogging through grief and shock and sin, and part of the tragedy is that this isn't the first time, or even the tenth time. We always grieve, but this time we are most heartbroken because most of the victims were kindergarteners. Unspeakable.

Lord, I'm tired

so tired from walking

and Lord, I'm so alone

and Lord, the dark is creeping in

creeping up to swallow me

I think I'll stop and rest here a while

Three of our kids are that age. Probably, most people can think of at least one special little five or six year old in their lives - they are the dolls of an elementary school. Even in our homeschool, with a toddler, with special needs, with adoption and attachment issues, with all kinds of not-your-normal-schoolishness, kindergarteners are a bud just beginning to blossom as they learn their lessons.

I tucked in all of our kids tonight, while other families are grieving over empty beds and toys untouched.

didn't You see me crying?

and didn't You hear me call your name?

wasn't it You I gave my heart to?

I wish You'd remember 

where You set it down

Sacra vim. Life is sacred. At age five, four, three, two, one, and infant...and before, too. Who are we to draw the line?

Almost 4000 other children died in the US today, and they will receive no news coverage. Women woke up this morning pregnant, but through either miscarriage, accident, or, as is sadly the case, mostly through abortion, those women go to bed tonight emptied. Grieving. Those small, young lives were sacred, too. Those lives had futures, too.

and this is all I can say right now

I know it's not much

and this is all that I can give...

that's my everything

We must create a culture where children are not disposable. Whether they are inconvenient or whether others are angry, their lives must be valued as sacred and untouchable.

Will we let this keep happening to our children, of any age? Or will we say, Enough! These children are precious, and their lives are not to be trifled with! Each one has a future and a destiny that is indispensible, irreplaceable, and necessary for the advancement of our country.

I didn't notice You were standing there

I didn't know that it was You holding me

I didn't notice You were crying, too

I didn't know that it was You washing my feet

- David Crowder, All I Can Say

We grieve and pray for those who are hurting harder than we are tonight. We are not politicizing the event. We do not make light of the tragedy. Rather, we see it for what it is and call upon Americans to realize the duplicity in mourning this while at the same time turning a blind, winking eye to daily slaughter.

If we expect our youngest students to be safe in classrooms, then we should protect our youngest children in the womb, where they were created to be most sheltered and safeguarded, not expendable.

Until the latter happens, the first is not possible.