Jennifer Hubbard’s younger child, Catherine Violet, was a victim of the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
Thanksgiving
“There are times when my tears fall with the force of a waterfall cutting through jagged rocks. Circumstances leave me feeling exposed to the biting winds and sweltering storms—fearing I will be left lifeless, like a snapped limb hanging in the wake of destruction. Each time I believe my efforts fruitless, I fall prey to the lie and fail to believe this truth: that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose (Rom 8:28). In this season, when rewards are reaped and the earth awaits a well-deserved rest, I pray I do not forget.
Wheat gathered and crops harvested are the rewards of the farmer’s toiling. Brow beaded in sweat and limbs aching from tirelessly laboring, the farmer trusts that the smallest seed hidden deep in the earth will emerge and reach to the heavens. And that once-bare branches, having withstood the weight of accumulating snow, pelting winds, and rains, will bend low and offer ripened fruit. I pray, in this season of bounty and plenty, that my heart remembers it is in all things, all things, that goodness is produced. For storms reveal weakness to be pruned and without a period of darkness there cannot be new growth. I pray, in the abundance of this season, that I remember it is from tears, freely flowing, that once-jagged rocks are transformed into polished stones. And in this truth, I bow low and, for the trials, the storms, the laboring and loss, give thanks.”—Jennifer Hubbard, Magnificat
