Two nights ago and unable to quiet my mind, I started to pray.
Peace was the prayer – peace for our world, peace for our divided country, peace for our divided cities, peace within every home in America and throughout the world, peace for all people, and peace within my own heart.
Watching the devastating news of an officer taking the life of George Floyd was beyond words.
Seeing the video with no empathy from the officer just made it all the worse.
I could not understand this kind of hatred and disregard to human life.
Then we all watched as businesses were burnt to the ground, we watched people beg for their livelihood and in some cases their life, and my heart felt like it was getting torn in half.
It physically hurt.
This on top of what the world is currently going through with Covid-19 when tensions are already high made me just want to cry the night away.
Weeping and wondering what I could do to fix this, prayer was all I could offer and for that moment, it became enough.
Instead of looking at social media knowing how some people seem to want to disagree on virtually everything and throw hatred on top of simmering emotions, I found a video that I needed to see.
It was this one:
It’s about a Father’s love for his son.
Dick Hoyt and his wife, Judy wanted to provide a normal life for their son, Rick, even after doctors told them that their son should be institutionalized. As a result of oxygen deprivation at the time of his birth, Rick was diagnosed as a spastic quadriplegic with cerebral palsy. They became his advocate and fought to help him thrive in their loving home. When Rick told his father that he wanted to participate in a five mile benefit run for a lacrosse player who became paralyzed as an result of an accident, Dick ended up pushing his son in a wheel chair in that race. Rick told his father that he didn’t feel disabled when they would run together. Since then, they have done marathons, triathlons, and ironman races together.
As I watched the video, I was reminded of love and the power of that love – the power of a Father’s love.
If this man can do this for his son, what can God do for us?
He can heal the world of wrongdoing, he will provide justice, he can heal the sick and hurting, and he can love us through it all.
He can bring peace into our homes and more importantly, into our hearts.
For some reason we want to label everyone as if they aren’t people – White People, Black People, Liberal, Conservative, Republican, Democrat, and the list goes on.
Is that really what we want? Is this really what God wants?
God sees what is on the inside – not on the outside.
Dick Hoyt saw something in his son that doctor’s didn’t – a human being with wants, desires, and a determination to live.
Max Lucado said it perfectly when he said, “I choose love. No occasion justifies hatred; no injustice warrants bitterness, I choose love. Today I will love God and what God loves.”
As I prayed for peace, love became the answer.
Choose love.
Terri Trepanier is the owner of Balanced Care Health and Supplemental Insurance and a licensed insurance consultant and broker with Associated Brokers. Licensed in both Maine and NH, her specialty is working with small businesses, individuals, and families with their health and life insurance needs. She is certified to offer health plans both on and off the exchange and is contracted with every health insurance company that offers plans in both New Hampshire and Maine. Her other passion is assisting Medicare beneficiaries with their Medicare Supplemental, Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Plans, and Medicare Advantage plans. Terri has seen firsthand the importance of insurancCare is to “Insure Security and Peace of Mind One Family at a Time”.