Tuesday, February 07, 2006

She Was Only Three

In 2001 we all remembered where we were and what we were doing on September 11. That fateful day when three planes were hijacked and used for weapons of mass destruction on American soil will never be forgotten.

I was watching the news the evening of September 11, 2001 still in shock from what happened that morning. While watching I didn't notice my then three year old daughter come in the living room. Just as she did there was repeated footage of one of the planes hitting the World Trade Center tower being shown. Her reaction..."Daddy, the plane popped!"

She was only three. That was five years ago and it still affects her. How do I know? In seven and a half hours my family is boarding a plane to Arizona and she is all excited about it. As she was talking to her mother and me about flying again she said these stunning words, "I hope the plane doesnt' pop." That is the first time in five years she has ever mentioned what she saw on the news that afternoon. She was only three years old and her little mind had etched in it for ever that horrific event. She was only three years old and the seeds of fear have been planted in her life.

The Bible says for us to "guard your heart for out of it are the issues of life." In other words, what we injest mentally, what we let in through the "eye gates", what we listen to and tolerate in our lives, it all affects us. It affects us to the point where we may not realize at the moment, but what we're taking in will rear it's ugly head down the road. I know people divorcing because some playful pornography on the side at one time became a life-controlling habit. I know, we all say it won't hurt or affect "me". We're exempt from that. Right. I know people who are dead because they drank and drove. I know people in jail because they liked to sell Ecstacy to kids. It was going to be the last time then they were going to quit!

It is so important to guart our hearts from the things that would poison us, desensitize us or ruin us. How do I know? My daughter has never forgotten 9/11/01. It affected how she looks at flying in an airplane.

She was only three years old.

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