Days ago, my lil girl went out to check on her little garden like usual and found a sweet lil baby tomato showcasing its glory on one of our plants. She was over-whelmed with excitement at the little tomato's grand entrance into her little garden world. She jumped up and down as if she was told she was getting a baby brother or sister (no, seriously). Shortly after, while examining it more closely, she accidentally broke the lil guy off. Devastated, she ran inside with tears in her eyes, and went to her room. We repeatedly assured her it was perfectly fine - "No really sweetie, it's fine." Sure enough, that lil soulless tomato was weighing quite heavy on her heart. Who knew such a thing could overwhelm a little girl's heart to such a degree? It took me back to my childhood of making sure my dolls were covered up in blankeys before bed - and my mom said she would even put pictures of people and things to bed herself as a little girl (laying down the frame, and covering it up with some sort of cloth). My little girl would use anything and everything to ensure her dolls and toys were comfy and cozy - even using socks as little sleeping-bags for many. The heart of a little girl is blessedly and empathetically sweet.
My lil girl, without my knowing, had been praying for "new baby tomatoes" since accidentally breaking off the first one. I watched her go out as usual to check on her garden yesterday out my kitchen window, and saw her excitedly run in. I knew there was good news of some sort. She told us to come out with her, so we ran out (acting excited ourselves of course). And there she began jumping up and down by the garden bed saying, "Thank you, thank you Jesus!" And there they were - five little new tomatoes. She said, "I felt so bad about that baby tomato I plucked off so I prayed ever since for new babies and they're here!" The relief poured from her little heart, and her eyes twinkled as she carefully examined every single one.
A few moments later - she said, "I must've been good at watering them! Nevermind...God's been good at watering them!" (We've had a lot of rain recently.)
After I watched her water her garden afterward and after I took some pictures of the exciting moment - I began thinking. I started thinking about her overwhelmed excitement over simple, little, soulless, baby tomatoes. I mean - of course little tomatoes are great, but simple, little, and soulless is really what they are (though I would never tell her that). Her words about "praying for baby tomatoes" struck a chord. As wonderful as the moment was and numerous other moments similar to that one are - it got me thinking about life and the extreme loss of empathy.
You see, every little girl and boy is born with some amount of empathy. And every little girl and boy is naturally born with a sinful instinct as well. It really depends on their environment to nurture that empathy. (Parents are most responsible for nurturing it, but other influences and surroundings will impact that as well. For instance, the school your child sits in 7+ hours a day for 5 days a week; the church they go to; friends they hang out with; media they listen to.) Sadly some children are never shown love and attention and never learn to water a plant, to pet a cat, or to shed a tear over hitting an animal on the road. These same kids grow up as less empathic individuals - at worst, criminals. I'm sure you've heard the number one red flag in lack of empathy is a lack of care or attention to animals - or worse - doing harm to them. This is why correctional facilities have programs where inmates can take care and train shelter dogs. It's a wonderful program. They learn discipline all while instilling an empathetic heart towards these dogs which will hopefully translate to empathy towards people. Empathy starts with protecting the most vulnerable among us - which is why experts point toward animals as proof whether or not a person has empathy (which is of monumental value for many aspects).
So as I stood watching my little girl masterfully make her omelet after parading around about the five little new tomato babies - I began pondering... "This precious heart has prayed for days for baby tomatoes - she has gone out there persistently multiple times every day to check to see if new tomatoes appeared. Yet..3,000 unborn soulful - intrinsically and miraculously designed REAL babies are slaughtered daily and never prayed over, never thought of, never empathized over." I then thought.."153+ million orphan children languish around the world in deplorable orphanages, are trafficked for rape, and are dying of starvation, AIDS, or other diseases. What about the nine people just slaughtered in their church in another state? The numerous lives that are taken by ISIS on a daily basis..." and most of us go most of the day without thinking once of all these countless real, soulful, ever-loved-never-forgotten lives that Christ died for. We live comfortably in our too-big-of-homes, driving our shiny nice cars, eating like gluttonous corrupted ancient Romans, and buying our little girl's dolls more clothes and items than most third-world children would dream to own themselves.
Where is the empathy? Where are the knees that are rubbed raw and red from kneeling in prayer over all the lives slaughtered on a daily basis? Where is the joy, jumping up and down, and praising Jesus at the good news of a life that's been saved? Where is the persistent and constant praying for *real* lives that truly matter?
I look at my little girl and her ever-so-big heart and think..."May my heart go back to being that big and empathetic. Lord, create in me a new heart. A bigger heart. A heart that's vulnerable and empathetic to all around me, despite the fear of being hurt." I sometimes think my little girl's heart is too big for her own good. That may sound silly to you, but we all know the biggest hearts get hurt the most. But the biggest hearts are also the most Christ-like. All the desensitization to all the hurt of this world can really weigh our hearts down and cover them in a hard shell if we're not careful. We've heard of unborn babies' lives being taken away for so long and so often, that we don't blink an eye when we pass by an abortion clinic; we don't pray while passing. We hear so much of ISIS that we can read an entire article, feel bad, then quickly move onto listening to a song on Youtube. We can watch an entire documentary of the plight of orphan children, shed a few tears, and quickly fall asleep in our comfortable beds. Where, where is the empathy? Where are the cries? Where is the defense for the defenseless?
How does a little girl go from tucking baby dolls into doll beds to growing up and walking into a clinic to rip apart the baby inside her? What went wrong? Oh how the loss of empathy is grossly permeating the world around us. You may wonder why I'm focusing on unborn lives - it's because little girls tend to showcase the most empathy through numerous actions - so to think of a little girl growing into a woman, and taking the life of an unborn child within her - well, I just can't think of anything more illustrative of the loss of empathy than that. For the record, I don't blame these confused young women - I blame those around them (including influential political figures) that tell them it's okay to do. The blood of these innocent children are on all those people's hands - more than these confused women. I'm very empathetic over these young ladies; my heart breaks for them.
My prayer today, as my sweet lil girl has unknowingly reminded me, that empathy is restored to our hearts to a childlike level. May we stop and think about what's going on around us. Sure, we can't live our lives in constant despair over all the problems around the world - but can you agree that we can soften our hearts to what breaks our Savior's a bit more? That we can stop focusing on what doesn't matter, and focus more on what does? That we see the plight of others' problems more important than our favorite show that comes on at 7? Or that vacation we're counting down the days to?
Lord, wrench our hearts, let us lose sleep at night if that's what it takes to restore the kind of empathy that implements change. Bring us to our knees. Let the tears consume us. Just break us for what breaks you.
Let us gain back all the empathy we may have lost since we were children; the kind that finds us mourning over the loss of life and rejoicing for the new.
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