Would You Really Die For Your Kids?

I was watching a documentary on WWII the other day, specifically on the Hiroshima atomic bomb. They were sharing survivor stories, and one in particular moved me to tears to the point I had to turn it off, pray, and catch my breath.

Immediately following the blast, a mother who had only moments before been eating breakfast with her husband and two small daughters awoke amidst smoke, rapidly approaching fires, and utter destruction. She and her severely injured husband quickly searched and could only find their oldest daughter who was trapped beneath rubble. No matter how hard they tried, they could not free her. As the fire inched closer, the mom did the unthinkable. She left her daughter and ran to safety amidst her child's cries of pain and pleas for help, all the while crying out that she "failed her daughter" and "was a horrible mother for not being able to die with her". The reenactment of the little girl crying out in pain for help as the mother cried out in anguish was too much to bear. This woman had to live the rest of her life with that moment, those cries echoing in her mind. Her husband would pass away later that day of radiation poisoning. She passed away in 2002.

I just could not help but thinking that were I in that situation, I would fling my body over my daughter and pray that death would come swiftly and she would feel me there with her in those last terrifying moments. But something in that woman just could not face that fiery death. I do not doubt her love for her children. Her anguish was real. And while we all believe with all that is in us that we would react differently, I am reminded that even Jesus who knew the pain facing Him, Jesus who loves us to an unimaginably greater degree than that overpowering love we feel for our kids, Jesus who knew this was the only way to save our lives, even He asked for a way out when faced with the impending pain and suffering.

When I put myself in that woman's place, I realize that I would want to die rather than face life without my child(ren). I would all the more want to take the pain and suffering in her/their place.

It is with that picture I enter into this holy season. Our Savior faced unfathomable pain and suffering, but He bore it for us, for me, for you. He would rather die a horrible death than face eternity without us. I pray that were I ever in the situation to make that awful choice, I would do as everything in my inner being still insists I would do and lay down my life for my loved ones, and I praise the Son of God for doing just that. Nothing brings us closer to understanding His love for us that day than the love we have for our kids. Think of what you would do, remember what He did, and let that overpowering love consume you as we celebrate and reflect this Easter season.