Real Quick---Regarding my last post: The Willy Wonka fruit candies in the tin are called Fruit Marvels and the reason I chose the fruit jellies and marvels is because they contain 25% fruit juice which is more than twice the amount in a lot of fruit drinks. (And because they come in cute containers and I'm a sucker for candy---Did someone say suckers?)
On to more serious topics...
Many breaking news stories cause us to ask the question, "Why?" Recently there were two stories that brought that question front and center in the minds of people all over the world. The stories were about two young boys. One boy survived an airplane crash that killed all the other 103 passengers including his parents and his brother. The other boy could have been saved by the woman who gave birth to him but wasn't and didn't survive the brutality of the man who mattered more to his mother than her own son. The 'why' question frequently turns into the 'how' question. It is easy to wonder how Ruben, the boy who miraculously survived the plane crash, ended up still in his seat bruised and broken but alive, surrounded by death and destruction. And of course the story of little Ethan, the boy who died from horrendous abuse at the hands of his mother's boyfriend, makes any rational decent human being wonder how a man could do such horrible things to a four year old child.
There are many guesses as to how and why Ruben survived. My favorite answer to the why was given by one of his doctors, God saved him because he isn't finished with what he is supposed to accomplish in this life. (Not a direct quote, but along those lines) Ruben is healing. Ruben lost those family members closest to him but his remaining family---his grandparents, aunts and uncles are taking him into a loving environment where he can grieve, find answers to his questions about what happened, and hopefully heal physically and emotionally. I believe he will go on to finish what he needs to in this life and that he will feel his parents and brother with him and that someday they will all meet again and catch up on what everyone's been doing.
Ethan's family has lost him, at least for now. I don't consider the man who murdered him part of his family and I question whether to even consider his mother as part of his family, but his father and many others mourn him and what could have been. I believe that just as Ruben was taken home by people who loved him and rejoiced at his survival, Ethan was taken home to heal in the loving embrace of Heavenly Father who will answer his questions and rejoice in his safety and happiness.
In a radio broadcast following Ethan's death and the discovery of the abuse and the part Ethan's mother played in the descecration of her son's body to hide the evil deed, one of Ethan's neighbors asked the question, "Where do these monsters come from?" That is both a good question and a disturbing one. I look at pictures of Ethan's mother and of the man who murdered Ethan and I try to picture them as children---as innocent babies. Don't we all start out that way? How did they go from innocent child to someone who seems to have such little value for human life--who has such darkness in their heart--someone who can do something so heinous to a defenseless and innocent child---someone who is... a monster?
We are all composites of our environments, circumstances, and experiences. I believe our mortality comes from the dust of the earth. Our bodies are very earth-like---having many elements in common with the earth. But our bodies clothe a divinely created spirit. The point of this life is to 'put off the natural man'---to arise from the dust, shake it off, to allow ourselves to be refined into more than what we are. Then our spirits will master our bodies and both will come together into an exalted soul. Of course this can only be accomplished by following the example of Jesus Christ and accepting his atoning sacrifice. Eternal life is all about progression. Damnation is ceasing to progress. (My wise husband brought this truth to my awareness) Recently I was listening to tapes of The Silmarillion by Tolkien. It told of how a group of elves were captured by a creator who refused to be in harmony with the other creators and brought discord and that through ages of torture and enslavement the beautiful elves became ugly vile creatures called orcs who served their evil master. Human monsters aren't really creations but distortions of creation. Each one of us is capable of becoming a monster if we allow ourselves to be captured by evil or to be deceived by distorted truth. We are children of God but we are also less than the dust of the Earth. To be children of God does not insure that we will be heirs with God. That is something that takes faith and work and obedience.
All children go through a phase where they are terrified of monsters; the kind that lurk under the bed, or wait in dark corners, or hide in the back of the closet. As they get older they learn that those monsters are not real but that monsters do exist. It is so very sad that for many children monsters come in the form of people who should love them and protect them and those monsters are very real and very dangerous. Jesus loves little children. During his earthly ministry he gathered them to him and ministered unto them and loved them and he told his disciples to not turn away little children for of such is the kingdom of heaven. Because of the depth of his love I know that in cases where little children like Ethan suffer fear and torment and pain Jesus has suffered with them and angels are sent to help them endure just as an angel was sent to strengthen Jesus in Gethsemane, and when it is time for them to be taken home they continue to be encircled in the arms of Jesus' love.
The world is full of miracles and horrors and of Rubens and Ethans who remind us that some questions are hard to answer. We rejoice over the Rubens and hurt and grieve for the Ethans. There are all kinds of survivors. There is more to living than surviving and more to surviving than living. I find wisdom that helps me as a mortal in Proverbs 3:5,6 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
