It's Not Our Job

In highlight of today’s tragedy I am going to take this blog a little, well a lot deeper than I normally would... In the words of my high school seminary teacher can we scuba dive for a little bit?

Like many of you tonight I cannot get this tragedy out of my head. It might be the future schoolteacher in me coming out or maybe the older sister, but I’m having a hard time getting over the fact that something like this could happen. I continuously find myself in judging and being angered at the man that did this. A man that I didn’t know, a man who’s name I couldn’t even tell you, and who’s face I couldn’t pick out of a crowd or off the street. I was having a hard time coming to terms with the fact that it was in Gods hands, just as I’m sure some of you are as well. I then started asking and thinking to myself is God really going to forgive this man? Will he really let him go to “Heaven”? I know that God is merciful I have felt his merci more than anything else in my life, and have been eternally grateful for the mercy he has shown to me so why is it my place to say that he can’t be merciful to this man? Is that fair of me or of anyone else but God? I believe the answer is no. I want to share something with you that helped me understand this tragedy a little better tonight. Naturally when I start to question God or my religion I turn to one of my heroes and former young women leaders Heather Harris. So I asked her the same questions I asked myself, can a person go to “Hell” or as members of my religion (LDS) call it “Outer Darkness”? Are there guidelines as to how someone could end up there, so as any good leader in the church would do she referred me to the scriptures and told that those were kind of how much do I have to do questions. To which I responded and told her why I was asking. She then responded with her profound words of advice that she always give me when I ask her questions like this, which I’m going to quote a little of it and hope she doesn’t mind, “ I know he will receive what he justly deserves and I know those children will be received by our savior in the kingdom of heaven. Does that help their families and all those mourning? Maybe not, but it brings peace to me… I am certain events like this are so so sad to God, we know how much he values little children, but we also know those children are okay… I also feel like standing in front of our Savior and explaining the things we have done with our lives will be justice in itself. Moroni teaches us that we would be more comfortable in the depths of hell and endless woe that to sand before our Savior with a guilty conscience. Take heart in knowing that its not ours to figure out, only ours to do our best to be true followers of Christ” Can you see why I love her so much!

So with that I will end by saying hug and say I love you to the family you are surrounded with tonight and to those you love who cannot be with you today send them a message or give them a call, say a prayer for those lost and the loved ones they left behind today, and know that “its not our job to figure this out, only ours to do our best to be true followers of Christ”