Sentinel Watch December 3, 2012 ISSUE

Protecting the innocents by protecting innocence

Lynn Mahoney—Disley, Cheshire, England

Again and again, I kept hearing news items involving children on the receiving end of violence: children being shot, forced into armies, abused, drugged, made to kill others … it was one item after another over a span of about three weeks. With each bulletin, I felt more acutely the loss and damage of these precious children. Yet after going through waves of incredulity and anger, I realized that to have an uplifting effect on these situations I had to start by changing my thought—and I could do that by praying. I not only had to see the real, spiritual identities of these children as untouched, but also the identities of the perpetrators.

How can we respond to news about brutality involving children? One thought that came strong and clear was from Hymn No. 9 (Violet Hay) in the Christian Science Hymnal: