Who do you see?
Posted On May 26, 2025
The memories feature on Facebook occasionally contains a past writing that did not make it to the blog. I often take those memories and share them with new insight or updated illustrations and applications. Today, one crossed my feed that doesn’t need changing but absolutely needs sharing:
On Tuesday, May 24, 2022, an 18-year-old shot his grandmother, then walked into an elementary school and began shooting children and adults alike. The Uvalde school shooting’s death toll is currently 2nd only to Sandy Hook, a decade ago.
This is not a discussion about what caused this young person to think this was the only option. This is not a discussion about the Second Amendment or Educational Reform. It’s not even a discussion about mental illness. While each of those areas has a place, the discussion we need to have is how we, as Christians, respond in such situations.
We live in a fallen world. When we look at current events, we might even say a broken world. Living in a broken world is not a broken promise. If this world is not our home, then we accept all of it, especially its brokenness, as temporary. While we live here, our mission must be to make as many positive waves as possible. Talk to people, befriend the lonely, love those the world has deemed unlovable through acts of kindness. When you are in the room, no one should feel like they don’t matter. You may not make it to every person in the room, but maybe you’ll inspire someone in the room.
It’s easy to point fingers. Shouldn’t the parents and grandparents have known? Shouldn’t someone have questioned his odd social media posts? Shouldn’t someone have stopped him from entering the school? Shouldn’t some professional have noticed he needed intervention? NONE of these questions changes what happened. These questions don’t offer comfort to the families or the community. Instead, we all need to ask, “What can I do in my community? Am I turning a blind eye? Who do I need to see today?” Rather than burying our heads in the sand, let’s resolve to see people and make waves.
I teach the preschool class in our congregation. Many times I have only one student, but this week I had six 2-4 year olds by the time class was over. When I begin class, I have a mirror and greet every child by name: “I look in the mirror and who do I see? I see ____ looking at me.” I take time to listen to them, and everyone gets a turn. Everyone, even preschoolers, wants to be seen, heard, and valued. None of them leaves my room without hearing that Jesus loves them, I love them, and that each of them is created for a purpose.
Even in our congregations, kids and families struggle as a result. Even our littlest ones experience the effects of living in a broken, fallen world. Who do you need to see today? How can you serve them? What can you do to make a difference for just one person?