worthy

I just finished reading "Clara's War: One Girl's Story of Survival" by Holocaust survivor Clara Kramer. It was amazing, sad, horrifying, and encouraging all at the same time. I LEARNED so much that I had never heard about regarding the war and the Holocaust.

The saddest aspect of it all was that as a 14/15 year-old, the most precious thing she had in life was her dear and beloved sister, who, after fearfully running out of their hiding place, a "bunker" that was dug under the house of a Polish peasant, was captured by the Nazis and murdered ruthlessly. One of the quotes that stood out most to me from the book was this, which she penned in her diary after they learned the story of how her sister was killed:

"And now, we had to go on without her, our lucky charm. We were still alive, whether we wanted to be or not. I now knew there was no such thing as a broken heart. It will go on beating to taunt you and mock you and tell you that even in grief it is indestructible and full of love."

I just think that is such an amazing testimony about how, no matter how much life hurts, no matter how much pain and discouragement we suffer, and no matter the brutality we see around us, our hearts were made to love, and love they will.

Another quote that brought tears to my eyes and a rush to my heart was this one, which she wrote as she recalled the joy she felt that the polish Catholics, who hid her family and others (18 total) for two years while endangering their own lives to do so virtually every day, were abdicated of treason charges:

"When I think of the one thing that we had, and the others didn't, it was the Becks. Everything I have learned about love, honour, and courage, I learned from them. After all that they did for us in the bunker, I know that nothing in life is impossible. When I left that bunker over 60 years ago, I felt that my life was no longer mine alone. I knew I would have to lead a life worthy of having been saved."

Read that last line again. Isn't that us? Haven't we been rescued from the worst Holocaust of all, Hell itself? Haven't we also been saved by Someone who risked everything and endured unimaginable pain so that we wouldn't have to? Should we not also feel the compulsion to lead a life worthy of having been saved? This is not my life alone; not yours alone either. The breath we breathe, the moves we make belong not only to us, but to the One who paid our price.

He alone is worthy, and as a follower of Christ, this life is not fully worthy of living if not lived in light of His Salvation and Grace.