My first thoughts this morning were, “Yea, it’s raining and I don’t have to go anywhere today. Gladys’ apartment is empty. Things have been given away or donated, the trash toted to the dumpster on strong backs—not mine. Hallelujah!”
Then I wrote today’s date in my writing-practice journal, September 11, 2014, and remembered. Suddenly I was transported out of my own little world to that terrible day. We all remember where we were and what we were doing when we heard of those barbaric acts.
So many lives lost, so many families fractured—their world and ours changed forever.
We cry out to understand such hatred and harden our resolve to stand against it. Let us not harden our hearts in the process.
I find myself praying for the victims’ families and friends, for us all. And with great difficulty, for our enemies, because the truth is, it requires an act of obedience. My human love for them is zip, zero.
O Lord, bring comfort. Grant peace. Give us hearts to forgive, even in our grief. Open minds to Your truths. Give wisdom. And lead us in the way everlasting. Amen.
Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon his name while he is near, let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
Isa. 55: 6-7
Copyright © Reflections from Dorothy’s Ridge 2014. All rights reserved
Good thoughts, Dorothy. May we always remember 9/11, and strive to follow our Lord's leadership. I love our country!
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Thanks, Freeda. I've been out of the loop this week, but will catch up reading yours soon! Love you!
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We've been attacked before. We remember the Alamo. We remember Pearl Harbor. And we remember the Twin Towers (and the Pentagon and Flight 93 of course). Sad, sad days.
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True, Katharine. I thought of Pearl Harbor as I wrote that. Thanks for reading.
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Thanks for your post. I hung the flag this morning, and while on the porch, wrote the tanka sequence I posted earlier on Facebook. May we be ever vigilant. xoxo
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I just read your blog and loved the quotes and tribute to your friend. I'll look for the tanka. I'm still behind on Facebook feed, but things have slowed down finally. Thanks for reading and commenting. And yes, may God protect and guide our country!
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I remember what I was doing too that fateful day, Dorothy. Although we were so far away in India, 9/11 shook the world to its core! Subsequently, we've had our own terror attacks that totally paralyzed Mumbai. May we all continue to heal and our leaders make wise and peace-loving decisions.
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Just catching up, myself DJ. Wonderful, thoughtful post.
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Thank you, friend!
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Yes, Corinne. I remember the Mumbai horror, too. It's hard to understand such hatred.
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