The sacredness of paying attention

How many times do I pass by things without giving them a notice at all? Just the other day, I was heading home from an errand on a commonly used road and missed my turn. Why? I was lost in my thoughts. I wasn't paying attention.

Last month, my husband and I toured Buchenwald Concentration Camp near Weimar, Germany. This was on a weekend between business meetings and we went here at my request.

When I passed through these grounds on foot, where thousands of people once suffered and many died, I was paying attention. I wasn't just passing through nonchalantly. 

standing in a concentration camp barrack space I looked down and saw 2 hearts

Everywhere I stepped foot in this place, though many of the original buildings were long gone replaced by rubble, I felt I was walking on sacred ground.

There was a peace there that is hard to describe to someone who hasn't been to a place like this. A place of suffering, and yet there was an eerie peacefulness there, a hush. A holiness that I can only describe as God's presence there. 

God in his grace and infinite mercy, present there to honor the memories of those who suffered. Those who were tortured and killed just because of who they were. They hadn't done anything wrong.

Before we left the grounds, we took a meandering path that led to an "ash grave". Supposedly where ashes from the ovens were buried.

The birds were singing the most beautiful songs in this place I've ever heard. I stood in my silence and looked up at the treetops. I saw no birds flying, or sitting on branches. Yet there was loud singing.

Could God have sent heavenly birds there to sing as an everlasting memorial to those who had gone?

I believe so.

______________________________________________


Blessings to you, 

~Anne


Thanks for stopping by today, friends! It's been awhile since I posted for Five Minute Friday. I'm happy to be back! Joining a flash mob of writers over at katemotaung.com for five minutes of free writing. No fancy edits. Head over there to see what everyone wrote on the prompt, "pass". 

when you don't feel good enough

If you're anything like me, you want to be good enough.

You want to look good.

you want to feel good. 

you want to be a good mom or dad.

be a good spouse.

We all want to be good.

We also want to be good at something.

Anything really!

We want to be so good at something that someone, anyone, the world really, will stand up and take notice. 

Don't we?

I was just thinking about how God wanted his work to be good, too. Like the work he did when he created the moon and stars, the birds and bees, the trees and donkeys. The sunsets and sunrises.

He wanted it all to be good. 

For us.

And, you know what? After each day of creation. He pronounced His work "good". Isn't that cool? 

What can that teach me to say to myself after I've created something!?

Such a good lesson there! 

But the pinnacle of his creation came on day 6. That's the day he created humankind, and you know what? He didn't pronounce it as good that day. No, he said something different that day. That day he didn't pronounce man and woman (you and me, really as humankind) as merely good. 

He said, "this. What I've made here is very good!"

So, on those days where you don't feel good enough at being you. Good enough at being a mom or dad or student, or a human being. Remember those words that God said on the sixth day. 

Remember that he created humanity and said, "This is very good!"

STOP.

Thanks for stopping by for Five Minute Friday! Linking up at Kate's Motaung's blog for five minutes of free writing, just for the fun of it! Today's prompt is "good".

Blessings to you, friend!

~Anne