I lived for a while in the south of France, and a little piece of my heart will always belong to that country. Paris is the city of my dreams, I hope to live there some day, and I wish I could be there now, doing something, anything to help, to soothe the broken, to ease the pain, to bring light and hope into the darkness and fear.
But I’m not there, I’m here. And while I may feel ineffectual, I believe in One who is bigger than the powers of darkness, stronger than the mightiest army and more loving than anyone could imagine. It is Him who brings comfort and hope, and I trust Him to be working in how we respond to the darkness we see.
And it is true, that we live in dark times, times of fear and anger and pain. Times of uncertainty – how to react in the face of such atrocities, how to protect those we love and show compassion to those in need. The attacks in Paris this weekend have brought the reality of the situation in the Middle East so much closer to home for us and have given us just a brief glimpse of the horror that millions are living through, dying in, fleeing from.
In these times, I believe we need two things: compassion, and hope.
We need compassion to share the sufferings of those who are hurting, and not just the people like us. We need to recognise that we are part of a global community (whether we like it or not) and we need to work together – to feed the hungry, house the homeless, rescue the captives.
And we need to have hope – that good will conquer evil (even if it takes a while), that love is stronger than hate, that light always dispels darkness.
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L’Eternel est mon berger
Je ne manquerai de rien
Il me fait reposer dans des verts pâturages
Il me dirige près des eaux paisibles
Il restaure mon âme
Il me conduit dans les sentiers de la justice
A cause de son nom
Quand je marche dans la vallée de l’ombre de la mort
Je ne crains aucun mal
Car tu es avec moi
Ta houlette et ton bâton me rassurent
Tu dresses devant mou une table
En face de mes adversaires
Tu oins d’huile ma tête
Et ma coupe déborde
Oui, le bonheur et la grâce m’accompagneront
Tous les jours de ma vie
Et j’habiterai dans la maison de l’Eternel
Jusqu’à la fin de mes jours
mayibethemoon 