Vibrant Lives

  • Home
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact
  • Inspiration Corner
  • Home
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact
  • Inspiration Corner

Boldly Defend the Littlest Among Us...

8/22/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
This week has been a tough week for me as a parent because of the horrific news of the ongoing violence in Aleppo Syria and domestic violence within families here in the United States. There are many more examples of violence and abuse but the two stories that caught my attention this week were especially poignant. The first is a little boy who was pulled out of his home after it has been bombed in Aleppo, Syria. His family survived but the video of the little boy sitting alone in the emergency vehicle just breaks my heart. You can see that he is in shock, as his expression never changes. The only movement is his hand reaching up to rub his eye and when he does he encounters the blood on his face. He then looks at his hand and sees the blood, which he tries to rub the blood off his hand onto the seat underneath him. He doesn’t cry out in pain or in fear, he just sits looking at the chaos going on around him. His face will haunt me for a long time.

The second story is about a little 4-year-old girl from Arkansas, who has been abused by her mother’s boyfriend. When asked by the police what her name was, she said “Idiot” because that is what the live-in boyfriend called her all of the time.  Both adults have been arrested for the horrific abuse of this child. Stories like this make me very angry so much so that I want to lash out in violence at the adults that do such harm to children. Instead, I pray for the little ones and trust that the abusers will be punished in some way either in this life or the next.
 
With these two particular stories on my mind, I watched a video clip from the French 1988 movie called, “The Bear,” which came across my Facebook wall. It is a short video that shows a mountain lion watching a bear cub frolicking below him on the grass and thus begins the chase. I guess the lion thought the bear would make a nice dinner so he began to pursue the cub intently. The bear recognizes that he is being stalked and begins to run, fast! He climbs a branch that overhangs the water and as the lion edges closer, the branch breaks and the bear falls into the water below. This new development does not hinder the lion as he continues to follow the bear from the waters edge until the bear floats close enough to almost be grabbed by the lion. The little guy quickly gets off the log into the water and swims to the shore. The lion follows him and the cub knows that he will have to defend himself right where his is at. He is out of options so he rises up on his hind legs to his full height, and starts to growl in his best voice to try to scare the lion.  While I think it was adorable to watch the little guy try to impress the lion with his strength and courage, it didn’t work because the lion was not deterred and edged closer and closer. Suddenly the growling lion stops his pursuit of the chub and turns away from the little bear and leaves. The camera turns from the lion to show the little bear continuing his fierce pose until the viewer gets a view of what is behind him. There is the very large grizzly bear standing at a distance behind him in the same upright pose. The little bear did not intimidate the lion but he did respect the giant bear standing behind the cub. The little bear is then reunited with his protector and everything ends happy for the viewer.
 
The video is amazing to watch and I admire the team that filmed it with their ability to capture all of the footage to make this 4-minute video so meaningful. As I watched the giant grizzly bear revealed behind the little bear, my first thought was that the lion should go pick on somebody his own size and leave the little bear alone. He was being a bully, however that is what nature is all about isn’t it, the survival of the fittest? I love to watch the National Geographic channel especially during “Big Cat Week” as we get to see the big cats in their natural habitat. They are so proud and fierce and of course deadly. There are parts of those shows that I cannot watch because of the graphic pictures of a hunt and kill by a pack of lions. I much prefer watching the playtime of the lion and tiger cubs as they entertain themselves when their moms are either hunting or sleeping. They get into mischief and have to be rescued or get scolded by the adults who break up the fights with their siblings. Does that sound familiar, fights with siblings or getting into mischief being scolded by the adults? Sure does for me.
 
What I find to be consistent in the animal world and in the human world, parents especially moms are very protective of their young. I have watched a female lion protect her cubs to her death. I believe it is the way we are wired to protect our young and helpless. The grizzly heard the cries of the little cub and came to his rescue and sent the lion home without his dinner. According to the story, the little cub was orphaned and had no protector until the grizzly stood up for him. Once that part of the story was revealed, I was doubly glad the cub escaped the fangs of the lion. Most often we want the underdog to win. We love the Bible stories like David and Goliath that shows a young shepherd boy taking on and beating a military giant with his faith and a slingshot. As Christians, we picture a mighty and powerful God that stands behind us just like the grizzly bear, fighting our battles for us.
 
After reading the stories about the little boy from Aleppo and little girl from Arkansas, I want that mighty and powerful God to stand behind these children and fight off the bullies that hurt them. Both were hurt in the safety of their homes. The first boy was with his family doing what families do and a bomb struck his house without any reason other than their country is in the middle of a civil war. It was just destroyed. His family survived but their lives will be changed forever.  The little girl, from Arkansas, was also in her home, a place that is supposed to be safe with people who love her. Obviously that was not the case as she has scars and fresh wounds that show of her injuries but no one can see the injury done to her mind and heart. So yes I want the mighty warrior God but I also want Jesus, who says, "Let the little children come to me and do not try to stop them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these" (Matt. 19:14).  This is the same Jesus who wept when his friend Lazarus died.  I need this Jesus in times like this! These children and so many others need a Jesus who will defend them, like the grizzly bear but will also love and comfort them when evil happens. I am sorry that there are so many vulnerable people who are living with so much suffering.  It breaks my heart, which shows me how important it is to courageously defend those who are living in fear and violence. It is our Christian duty to follow Micah 6:8. “The Lord God has told us what is right and what he demands:“ See that justice is done, let mercy be your first concern, and humbly obey your God.”
May I be so bold!

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Denise seeks to empower people to live into their true potential...
                               Read More

    Archives

    June 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015

    Categories

    All
    Abundance
    Acceptance
    Adapt
    Adult
    Advent
    Adventure
    Alzheimer's
    Angelic
    Angels
    Art
    Attention
    Baby Jesus
    Baptist
    Beauty
    Belief
    Believe
    Belonging
    Be Still
    Betrayed
    Black Lives
    Blessed
    Blessing
    Bold
    Bounty
    Breathe
    Brithday
    Brokenness
    Build Together
    Call
    Captivity
    Caring
    Celebrate
    Challenged
    Champion
    Change
    Chaos
    Children
    Choice
    Christ
    Christ Child
    Christmas
    Church
    Community
    Comparisons
    Compassion
    Confidence
    Courage
    Creating
    Creation
    Creativity
    Crooked Lines
    Cross
    Crowd
    Crown Of Thorns
    Crucifixion
    Darkness
    David
    Dawn
    Decisions
    Delighted
    Denied
    Depression
    Determination
    Detour
    Disciples
    Discovery
    Divine
    Divorce
    Dry Bones
    Easter
    Empowered
    Equality
    Extravagance
    Eyewitness
    Failure
    Faith
    Faithfulness
    Family
    Father
    Fear
    Flame
    Forgiven
    Forgiveness
    Freedom
    Friend
    Fruits Of The Spirit
    Game
    Gift
    Gifts
    Gladiator
    Glorious
    Glory
    God
    God Given Gifts
    God-given Gifts
    God Moments
    God-moments
    God's Glory
    God's Love
    God's Timing
    Grace
    Grateful
    Gratitude
    Greatest
    Greek
    Handiwork
    Healed
    Heart
    Holding Space
    Holidays
    Holy Spirit
    Home
    Honor
    Hope
    Hopelessness
    Humanity
    Humility
    I AM
    Identity
    Imperfection
    Inside
    Isaiah
    Jesus
    Jesus Christ
    Job
    John 3:16
    John The Baptist
    Journey
    Joy
    Judging
    Labels
    Lent
    Light
    Liminal Space
    Lion's Heart
    Listen
    Lonliness
    Lord's Table
    Lost
    Love
    Love One Another
    Manager
    Manger
    Mary
    Matter
    Memorial Day
    Memphis
    Mended
    Mercy
    Messiah
    Messiness
    Ministry
    Mom
    Mothers
    Moving
    Music
    Mystery
    Nations
    Nativity
    Neighbor
    New Beginning
    New Birth
    New Day
    New Year
    Open
    Pain
    Paradise
    Parents
    Partner
    Peace
    Pentecost
    Persistent
    Perspective
    Potter
    Power
    Praise
    Prayer
    Preparing
    Presence
    Promise
    Psalm 23
    Purpose
    Pursuit
    Questions
    Radical
    Radio
    Randomness
    Remember 9/11
    Respect
    Rest
    Restoration
    Resurrection
    Risen
    Running
    Sacred Pit
    Sacrifice
    Salt
    Savior
    Scarsity
    Second Best
    See Others
    Serenity
    Servants
    Sharing
    Shepherd
    Shines
    Sibling
    Simon Of Cyrene
    Son
    Spirit
    Spirit Of God
    Spirit Of Love
    Stone
    Storm
    Storms
    Strength
    Suffering
    Suffering Servant
    Surrender
    Temptation
    Thankful
    Thanks
    Thanksgiving
    The Wall
    Together
    Tomb
    Tower Of Babel
    Traditions
    Transition
    Trauma
    Traveler
    Trinity
    Trust
    Understanding
    Undervalued
    Unfaithful
    Unity
    Unworthy
    Value
    Virus
    Vision
    Voice
    Voiceless
    Waiting
    Wandering
    Water
    Weeps
    Welcome
    Wilderness
    Wind
    Window
    Wisdom
    Woman At The Well
    Women

    RSS Feed

MENU

HOME
BLOG
ABOUT
CONTACT

COPYRIGHT © 2015 VIBRANTLIVES.NET

CONNECT WITH US