Once again, our nation is overcome with grief. A mall shooting and another mass school shooting has brought us to our knees as we cry out to God for relief from the crushing pain that has penetrated our collective hearts. What in the world would make the shooters hate themselves, and others, so much that they would take the lives of the innocent?

It’s a question to which we may never have answers, and in truth even with an explanation we may never really understand.  Last week I posed the question Are we Paying Attention, wondering if we are really engaged (or interested) in the lives of others. This week I’m left questioning what is happening in our own lives to cause us to descend into madness. Surely there must be something we can do at the front end, before all hope is lost, to prevent us from falling so deep into a pit of despair that we feel our only option is to end it all.

The reality is that none of us in this life will ever be completely free from pain and suffering. The circle of life includes birth and death for us all. So how do we make the most of the living in between?

Surely our first step must be a relationship with God. As created beings, we were designed for intimacy with our Creator. It is He who shapes us, molds us, and gives us purpose. It is also to Him that we run when the insanity of life becomes too much to bear; Like now, when we look around us and cannot help but wonder when the next lunatic will appear.

Yes, God is there for us. He has given us every good and perfect gift, but sometimes we experience seasons of life that are full of problems that are way bigger than our minds and hearts can comprehend. When that happens why is it, given similar circumstances, some of us can weather the storm and are better on the other side while others of us look for a permanent end to temporary situations? I can only surmise that our reaction is a result of our outlook – on the circumstances and on our selves.

The simple truth is that in addition to our relationship with God we also need a healthy relationship with our selves. If we can’t love us, we can’t authentically love anyone else. Our actions are merely an outward manifestation of our internal self-worth. If we’ve given up on our own life, how can we possibly place real value on the lives of others?

This is why our Loving on Me journey is so important – so that we never forget the value of our own lives and the abundance that God has made so readily available to us. It is from this place of awareness grow our strong roots of strength, allowing us to weather life’s storms, to understand and embrace the seasons as but moments in time, and to love others despite the circumstances.

In the days and months ahead we’ll all be looking for what we can do to ensure a tragedy of this magnitude never happens again. No doubt new legislation will be suggested, for a time we’ll focus on mental illness, and I’m sure every school and mall in America will be reviewing security protocols. And all of it needs to happen – quickly!

But I also encourage us to individually spend some time in self-reflection and renewal. The best way to ensure that the every day madness doesn’t make us crazy is by strengthening our relationship with God and with our selves. Go to a quiet place and get reconnected with your Creator. Allow God to speak to your heart, as only He can, to renew your hope and to revive in you a love for His precious creation – you.

Sending you my prayers and love as we grieve and grow together.