“This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it!”
My morning mantra comes by rote rather than conviction.
A sip of orange ginger tea calms me, but only for a moment.
My spirit slides back into despair.
More mass shootings than days in the year!
Hundreds gunned down in our streets, cars, churches, homes, yes, even in our own beds!
Stark figures foster fear, hatred and hysteria.
This is my country? Land of the free? Land of the brave?
Reality reveals a land where denial deludes, where disillusionment and despair develop into rage — rampage, after rampage, after rampage . . .
In the gutter of grief, a glimmer of grace emerges, breaks forth into brilliance.
Hope prevails. A Babe is born.
Jesus, Ultimate Love,
Comes again, again and again.
— Written Dec. 3, the morning after a mass shooting in San Bernardino, Calif.
Elizabeth A. Raid
Newton, Kan.
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