(Original photo by Radoslaw Pujan “Ghosts of the Holocaust.” Taken from here.)
Little Sister gave me three of the “Call the Midwife” books by Jennifer Worth for Christmas. In moments when my fever was down and I was able to absorb the words on the page, I have enjoyed turning their crisp, fresh new pages and I can give them a full recommendation. They bring a depth and power to the brief vignettes that the TV series attempts to bring to life. However, the written word can sometimes explain things in a way that a movie screen and sound track never could.
I just finished the second book with tears in my eyes from the last words of a kindly old man to Jenny Lee.
“You know the secret of life, my dear, because you know how to love.”
The 2nd book, “Shadows of the Workhouse,” covers the stories of three children forced by poverty into the workhouse and the torment which they received and the relationships and love they found once they left the workhouse. A mother who in desperation entered a workhouse to save her children’s life only to be separated from them and only to be informed as, one by one, all 5 of her children died. She describes the moment she first heard what was known as “the workhouse howl,” a cry of desperation brought of agony, heartbreak, and insanity due to the appalling living conditions and pure despair. She tells of an old soldier who was left fatherless at a young age who later joined the army, loved his family, fought in South Africa, lost his entire family in WWI and WWII, and lived a lonely life until at the very end the authoress befriended him. The words I quoted were his.
Then, today, a friend posted a link on facebook of pictures of the “Ghosts of Holocaust,” a virtual tour or Auschwitz done so beautifully than pain could be felt in those pictures. It brought home to me even more the blessings I have as well as the responsibilities I bear. Those we all bear.
I wouldn’t call myself an activist for much of anything. Surprisingly, I don’t know if it is in my nature or perhaps it is not a gift God has chosen to a waken in me but the more I see of the world, the more I hear stories of the past and the present I know one thing is certain. We cannot be silent. Particularly if we claim to be children of Jesus Christ: The God who became man to die in our place so that we may have these rich, redeemed, and forgiven lives. He commanded us to love, not just those we want to love, but to love our enemy, the lost, the dirty, and the abhorrent people in a world that cannot see His life and love. We cannot forget that we are His lights in the world. He is willing to be there, to touch their lives, to bring them relief, but He needs our hands and our feet.
Logic and reality tell me that there is no way that everyone’s pain and suffering will go away. Truthfully that is not what I am saying. Easing and going away are two completely different things. As a nurse I have experienced that sometimes you can try your hardest to the limit of modern medical science to bring relief and there is a moment where it falls short and you are helpless. Death and pain are not beautiful in the fact that everything is nicely arranged. It is beautiful if someone is going home to Jesus. Other than that it is perfectly horrible. But there are things much worse than death that happen in this world daily. Multiple times a day, an hour, a minute. Still we refuse to speak up.
Holocausts, workhouses, and the pain, poverty, and despair that go with them are foreign to so many of us in a first-world country. We literally cannot understand them. Many of our poor cannot. We can sympathize with them but we cannot grasp or understand them. Until you stand, with poverty staring you straight in the eye and realize how powerless you are too help in that moment you cannot understand. I experienced this in Thailand. I sometimes see a different kind of poverty in the faces of those I pass in the streets here.
Christ came and died that we might have freedom from this and that the world be brought to Him in His fullness. Not so that slavery, abortion, sex trafficking, war, genocide, and all manner of evil could exist. Instead He conquered it and gave us a job to do. A big one and the most important job that we could ever do: to fill His world with His light. Our responsibility is clear. We cannot ignore it.
There is something that each of us can do. Whether it is to open our eyes to the hardship our next-door neighbor is going through, to getting involved with abortion and sex trafficking in your city, because it will be there. Examining God’s call for you life is a great way to start. I know I had too and the call was hard, painful, and a very long battle on my side but worth all the pain and anguish to bring me to a life that I cannot imagine never living. I would encourage all young people to stop thinking about their plan for their life to a certain extent and open their hearts, souls, and ears up to what purposes God has placed on them. Be willing to take a risk and leave your comfort zone. Be willing to leave all you know behind and suffer mockery and ridicule. Christ did more than that for us.
If you can do nothing else, then pray. Pray fervently and passionately. Prayers are our greatest weapons as the people of God and possibly the least utilized. We need to be a people of God who’s hearts are on fire for His kingdom and His glory. Not the bright, flame dancing, soon dying flame. No. The white-hot flame of the hottest of all coals that can start so many other fires through its heat. Those are the hearts with which we much fight this battle. It is our responsibility.
One day we will stand before Him and He will ask us how we used our gifts and our blessings. Let us not be unable to answer.
Let us be a people who knew how to love.
Unconventional Womanhood 