Remembering a Book {Bigger Picture Moment}

Today is Holocaust Remembrance Day.
I wouldn't have known this, but one of my favorite bloggers posted a beautiful poem about her father ~ a Holocaust survivor. I've read her poem several times this morning...she carries such beautiful memories of him with her ~ her poems are full of him! It just fills me with pain to think of all the generations of daughters and poets that are lost, forever. I'm glad she posted today and put out such a gentle call to remember.

When I was a senior in high school, I wrote my senior English thesis about Holocaust literature. More specifically about children in Holocaust literature. I compared the books written about the children of those years to the books written by children from that time. In my research for this paper, I discovered a book that left a permanent mark on my heart and soul. Walking around the town before work today, I saw this Thoreau quote on a bench...and immediately remembered this book. It marks, in my mind, the end of high school, and home...and {perhaps} childhood.

This is a beautiful, haunting collection of poems and drawings that reveals the hearts of the children subjected to the horrors of those years. The reason that this book (along with the Diary of Ann Frank) made such an impression on me was that in spite of it all, there was hope in their young voices. There was color and home and heart and dreaming....IN SPITE OF IT ALL. The life lesson that I learned as I wrote that paper was this: The adult literature was dark...dismal and angry and knowing. An adult knows the absurdity, and the cruelty and understands the devastating consequences. There was no hope in the literature written by the adults ~ even as they wrote from a child's perspective. But in the words and drawings of the children, glimmers of hope shone through. I will always remembering being altered somehow by this observation - that all of that horror could not silence or still or crush or destroy the hope that is the human spirit.

Interesting that today, of all days, I noticed that quote on the bench. And was brought back to that book.
And that, not an hour later, I read Ayala's poem.

Hope.
We've all got those child-like places in our hearts.
I hope that open, hopeful, colorful place in our heart sings loudly today.
And that we listen to our heart song.


Linking up over at Hyacynth's place today.

The internationally recognized date comes from the Hebrew calendar and corresponds to the 27th day of Nisan on that calendar. It marks the anniversary of the Warsaw ghetto uprising. In Hebrew, Holocaust Remembrance Day is called Yom Hashoah. When the actual date of Yom Hashoah falls on a Friday, the state of Israel observes Yom Hashoah on the preceding Thursday. When it falls on a Sunday, Yom Hashoah is observed on the following Monday.

2012  Thursday, April 19

Link to USHMM

Windows of the Soul

My little book group met for the second time on Monday evening.

This month's read?
            Windows of the Soul
                       ~ Hearing God in the Everyday Moments of Your Life
             by, Ken Gire

This is a beautiful book, written to remind us that "our search for God and his search for us meet at the windows of our everyday experiences." As we read, our eyes are opened to "a fresh way of seeing, hearing, and enjoying the presence of God in our lives."

Through a series of personal experiences and encounters, the author takes us on a wonderful journey of discovery. He takes us to museums, to the movies and on business trips ~ and lets us peer through the windows that God opens for him along the way. His stories are poignant....but, as he points out...they are his  stories and not ours. And his encouragement to us is to learn to hear God in OUR lives...to grow in our awareness of the many ways God reveals himself to us. We've got to quiet down, tune in, ask good questions and we'll become aware of God - the God who's tapping at the windowpane of our souls.  For anyone looking to "make a little more sense of it all" or "live more fully in the moment" this is a really good read!

The Shack

My first read this year?

It's a re-read.

THE SHACK

Looking forward to diving in again to see 

what this beautiful book

will bring me

three years later.

A Must Read...

....or Listen!

0 miles ~ leaving home

386 miles ~ dad's house

On last week's solo road trip I listened to a book! I had never done this before, but I loved it. Not only did it make the trip go by more quickly, but I got to enjoy a wonderful book. I listened to Rob Lowe read his own autobiography. For anyone of our generation, it's a must read. He had me laughing ... yes, out loud, alone in my car. And crying. The stories he tells are fascinating. The humility and honesty with which he tells them...very moving. I guess I think it's a great read for anyone ~ but a must read for our generation, because you'll remember where you were when the astronauts walked on the moon as he's telling the story about being woken up out of a deep sleep to watch with his mom. And you'll have many other memories stirred as well. It was a great journey ~ reliving things as he tells stories, marvelling at the hollywood royalty that color his story, and learning from him and with him as he analyzes his story. I'll say it again - a must read!

781 miles ~ home!