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Out of Kilter

This morning’s paper brought another devastating story of murder and mayhem. The shock value of this story that merited second page coverage was that the perpetrator of this crime was a mother. I stared at the picture of this mother who murdered her teenage son and daughter. This was not a family in poverty or beset by money troubles. This was an intact family that lived in a gated well to do neighborhood. The father had a very good job that allowed his wife to stay home and care for their children.

I do not pretend to be a psychologist or psychiatrist so I don’t know what deep seated issues that disturbed this woman. When I read this story I thought isn’t it ironic they lived in a gated community. People usually live in these types of communities for security reasons. I mused that the security fences could not keep this woman’s mind safe from inward demons.

The very safety her family craved was taken away by the person who the children should have been able to trust with their lives. Mercifully the paper said that the children never saw their death coming because of the way that their mother shot them. Somewhere this woman did not internalize God’s command to not kill. This story points out, once again, we are living in troublous times. It is not a security gate that will keep us safe. Our safety is only in God and his protection.
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