Prayers for Carena, Prayers for Boston, Prayers for our World

A few days ago I wrote a blog post asking for everyone to Please Pray for Little Miss Carena.

In the days since I wrote the post, this little girl has gotten better, then went downhill, and is now in a holding pattern.  She’s one tough little girl but her neck where they took the lymph nodes is infected and they think it might be abcessed.  They’re treating her with a couple of different i.v. antibiotics but if they don’t kick it by tomorrow morning, they’ll have to go back in.

Please, please say more prayers for this little one.

And then this afternoon we see the news of the bombings in Boston.  At this point there have been two fatalities and over 110 injured.  Two bombs exploded while two others were found and taken care of without further injuries.  (Added on 4/19:  Obviously I made the mistake of watching CNN news.  This information later appeared to be false – there were no other bombs found.  The fatality rate is now up to 3 with the injuries over 140.)

And one of the two killed was an 8-year-old child.

I just don’t understand.

What did this little child do to deserve this?

Did this child cause any harm to the person or people who set the bombs?

What is the worst this child ever did: bend the truth, call someone a name?

And for that matter what did any of the victims do?

One could say this could be said for all tragedies, but there are some that seem even more senseless than others.

So tonight all that are affected by the explosions in Boston are in my thoughts and prayers.

Which brings us to our world.  Not just our country, but our world.

I think Mahatma Gandhi said it best when he said “You must not lose faith in humanity.  Humanity is an ocean:  if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.”

Although we may be of different faiths, I too believe there is more good in this world than evil.  And tonight, I pray for all of us.

I pray that we consciously think of others as we go through our busy days.

I pray that we take a moment every day to reach out to a loved one:

To say thank you: I appreciate you.

To say, I love you.

To be quiet and not say anything, but listen to them as they speak – really listen, look them in the eyes and listen to what they are saying to you…because they’ve chosen you to hear their story and that means you’re special.

Take a moment to smile at someone, because it is true – receiving a smile from you may be the only positive moment they have all day.

And I pray that we stop and think.

Think about what happened today…

One little 6-year-old girl lies in a hospital still very ill.

I had a meeting today to plan our local Young Life Fundraising Auction.

And the people running and watching the Boston Marathon were enjoying a great day in Boston when tragedy struck.

What were you doing today?

And more importantly, what are you doing now?

As for me, I’ll keep on praying…for the victims, the families, for the various levels of law enforcement that they find who did this quickly.

And then I’m going to hug my husband and daughter Gabi.

And then I’ll call my other two girls and tell them how much I love them.

I don’t know what the answer is to the ongoing question of why these things happen, or how do we prevent them.

I do know that once again Mahatma Gandhi was correct when he so wisely said:  “You must be the change you want to see in the world”.

It does start with each and every one of us.

And so, I’m going to try to live my life in peace and love.

I pray you will join me.

Blessings,

Patty O