Day 291

Scripture: Ps 124; Jeremiah 31:15-17; Revelation 21:1-7; Matthew 2:13-18


Scripture standout: Jeremiah 31: "¹⁶ The Lord says, 

   "Do not sob anymore.
      Do not let tears fall from your eyes.
   I will reward you for your work,"

   announces the Lord.
      "Your children will return from the land of the enemy.
 ¹⁷ So I am giving you hope for the years to come,"

His Deed/The Day: I liked today's devotional on Forward Day by Day. I can't even imagine losing one of my children (I have been in bed with Marley, who is still sick with the pukes and know how terrible even that feels) and am struck by how the small gift of a cross helped give this woman so much encouragement. Today's deed is doing some e-encouraging, which is all I can muster from Marley's sick bed. Geez, the throw-ups are the worst!!!

Matthew 2:13-18. When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the wise men.

One day I casually admired a silver cross worn by an adult student in one of my college English classes. She related that it had been left on her doorstep the day after her two sons died in a fire. She says that she has worn it constantly ever since.

In subsequent conversations with her, I have come to admire this woman and her enduring faith. She “gets it” in a way I am not sure I would be able to do, were even one of my children to perish. She understands that her boys, as she calls them, have gone ahead into eternity and that she will, with patience, catch up to them. For now, she works and studies—lives, loves, and learns. Like the Holy Innocents we remember today, her children died too soon. It’s a cruel injustice that challenges our deepest beliefs. I hope that the mothers of Bethlehem, like my student, found strength in their faith and had loving family and friends to grieve with them.