Love and disgust. But mainly disgust.

And as she handed their newborn son to her husband, her gaze did not leave the baby. Her protection for her child was shown through her loving touch and watchful eye as she gave her husband a much anticipated turn to hold their most loved blessing.

This could easily describe the exchange between Kate and William as they introduced their baby son, the future king of England, to the world a few weeks ago. Instead it describes something I witnessed at our church this past weekend. A couple were standing in front of me with their young newborn baby who they recently adopted. To watch them was to know their lives would never be the same.

To see this two weeks after our church experienced an armed robbery was just what I needed. I questioned going back. I fear something happening again. I have nightmares of not being able to protect my child in similar circumstances. I have had to have a serious conversation with my husbud about our security and our future in our country. I relive the running away, the fear, the screams from that morning so I desperately needed this vision of life moving on. Of love. I needed to hear the voices of our church singing in unison giving me goosebumps when we sing of God's love for us. I needed to live in the mundane. Unfortunately this is not normal for everyone. And that is what breaks my heart.

When I hear of a baby and her young brother being raped in our country it shocks me to my core. It makes me question life and how I live mine. It has made me question love. Love is not something automatically learnt but something we are taught. We are taught it by our parents who wake up patiently with us to comfort us at night, who feed us our favourite foods to warm our tummies, who read us our bed time stories for the umpteenth time and convince us we are important. That we are special. That we are loved. When I think of not being needed by my son one day during the middle of the night or to provide him with a meal I want to cry. I have to use this time I have been given by God to influence his life's decisions. I have to make sure that everything I do for him is from a place of deep love so that he can do the same. So that he can carry the baton of love to the next generation. I want him to think of me aware of my faults but able to say "That woman loved me every moment of my life" - in fact I loved him before he was knitted together in my womb.

We learn where to place our value from our parents . They provide, defend and protect us, asking us to do the same for our children, to their grandchildren, in return. We learn that our mother's have instincts stronger than any animal, that have been known to produce super human strength to protect their young. I know this feeling. I know it because my mother showed it to me and her mother showed her. I am teaching my son who I hope above most other things, goes on to show his children. You are loved.

“In society, women are referred to as the fairer sex. But in the wild, the female species can be far more ferocious than their male counterparts. Defending the nest is both our oldest and strongest instinct. And sometimes it can also be the most gratifying.”
Emily Thorne - Revenge

To these people that behave like animals, I am sorry. I am sorry that you didn't have someone to show you these things. I am sorry that you weren't taught love. Everyone deserves to experience love, to be protected and defended. To rob someone of their childhood and to destroy their experience of love is inexcusable. Your parents failed you and their parents failed them. You have failed us. I will live the rest of my life ensuring that the children God entrusts to me, grow up knowing that in the mundane, there is always love.

The end.