Yesterday at least 18 elementary school children were gunned down in their Texas classroom.
The shooter was 18 years old.
I was 18 years old when I had an almost fatal car accident; tomorrow is the anniversary of that accident.
For me, these things feel connected in ways I don't understand. Maybe it has something to do with accepting the past and the present as they are? With accepting the world and people as they are too?
When stumped like this, I turn to the Sisters of Life podcast archives and often find something that helps.
I found a link for a pdf file called, Litany of Let Love. It was perfect. And-- it was written by one of the podcast cohosts.
Circling back to the shooting in Uvalde Texas. After the deaths of all those children, I also want to share what is thought to be the poet Emily Dickinson's last letter before she died. It was short and simple, “Little Cousins, Called Back. Emily“. (Source: briefpoems.wordpress).
We don't kill our cousins. No. We protect them. We celebrate them. We love them. We don't shoot them.
I don't have an answer to stopping the death of innocent children. Smarter folks than me will have to figure that one out.
But I think I'm starting to better understand that confounding Jesuit Suspice Prayer.
Take Windsor LORD.
Take Texas.
"Little cousins, Called back."
Amen

Zebra by Joan Butterfield. (Joan Butterfield/joanbutterfieldartist.com)
Canadian Artist
PS. I love love love this painting. I see something new everytime I look at it.
Today I see a spirit horse for carrying the "Little Cousins" home.