Day 192 -- Our Safe Place

I gritted my teeth and tried to stifle my anger tonight as I heard the first bottle rockets go off in the park across the river.  I was laying on the floor next to Breslin in his sleeping bag (that's where he sleeps now), willing him to stay asleep even though the noise was significant coming through the open window.  "Sometimes, I really hate living here," I thought to myself.  But, almost immediately after this thought materialized in my brain, it was replaced by a picture of a mom and her kids in a shelter; then a mom protecting her children from an abusive boyfriend; then a mom covering her toddler's ears as gunshots ring out from the apartment next door.

Dang.

The fact that there are people out there who live in a place where they do not feel safe has really been on my heart lately.  This is something that I have so taken for granted up to this point in my life.  I have never lived in a place where I have felt unsafe.  Tonight, there are people going to bed who cannot feel secure because of things like the neighborhood they live in or the people they live with.  Or, they are going to bed in a strange place because they do not have a place of their own.  Now that I have children, I realize how important the security of a safe and constant location is.  I know that my children have a safe place they can lay their heads at night.  It is truly scary to think of the alternative.

So tonight, I am thankful that my family was blessed with a home in which we can sleep safe and sound.

Breslin didn't even wake up, after all, and the noise stopped after about 10 minutes.

Thank God for our safe place!

Lord, thank you for blessing us with our home.  Thank you that it is in a relatively quiet and peaceful neighborhood.  Please help me to remember this and not take it for granted.  Please give comfort to those who are missing this part of their lives tonight.  Help them to find a place that is safe and secure.  In your name I pray, Amen.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 162 -- "Showing Us the Way"

Image
One of my favorite things about the spring is the baccalaureate celebration that takes place the week before graduation.  I love the chance to see my seniors in their caps and gowns and to praise God for their arrival to the finish line.  For every year since I can remember, I've listened to Western's Select Choir perform the song "Showing Us the Way" by Michael V. Ficocelli.  When I was a senior, I even got to sing it at my own baccalaureate.  That year, and every year since I have taught at Western, I get choked up listening to the perfectly fitting lyrics of this song.  Tonight, on a perfect evening at the Cascades Falls, tears ran down my face as I watched the seniors I taught sing the words of this song to their classmates, parents, teachers, and friends.  I smiled and cried a little more as I realized that someday there's a good chance I'll be watching my own kids sing it at their baccalaureate. I had to share it with you.  This isn't Western's...
Read more

Day 80 -- Calvin and Hobbes

Image
When I was in junior high and high school, I used to read the anthologies of several comic strips, including Garfield, Fox Trot, The Far Side, and Calvin and Hobbes.  I remember reading them by the light of my bedside lamp, trying to stifle my giggles so that my parents wouldn't come bust me for staying up too late reading (the horror!). Calvin and Hobbes, especially, resonated with my sense of humor.  I found the strip simultaneously witty, funny, thought-provoking and perceptive.  I collected all of the anthologies, but somewhere between then and now, I either lost them or gave them away.  I told my husband about my tendency to read them from cover to cover, and how I was sad that I no longer had them.  Not too surprisingly, for Christmas, I received The Calvin and Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Book from Santa. I have been slowly working my way through the book, and tonight I was reminded of Calvin's finicky eating habits and of his gift fo...
Read more

We Dance...and We Sing...When We Play the Drum!

Let it be known that my son gets his money's worth out of his toys. Or, in this case, someone else's money's worth. Whatever. You know what I mean. The toys that he likes, he really, really likes. He uses them a lot for a long time. This particular toy is a drum that was given to him by our friends, The Tappans, at his FIRST birthday party. Needless to say, tonight he was REALLY enjoying his gift.
Read more