Holocaust Writings

WAKE MY DREAM

There is no happiness in this place,
there is no sun to touch my face.
The gleaming light I long to see,
Nothing but darkness covers me.
The pain and hurt I feel inside,
I wish I could run away and hide
in a dream from which I would never wake,
where the light could touch my humble face,
and the rays of the sun would cover me,
--only if it wasn't a dream.

by Breanna


No More Happy Days

No more happy days
because we can't play where we want to.
No more happy days
because we can't go where we want to.
No more happy days
because we can't live where we want to.
No more happy days
because we aren't free.

by Lateef


DARKNESS, PROOF, AND FREEDOM

As I sit here
in my cell of darkness,
I close my eyes and think--
I think of happy times,
the times that make you stop,
take a deep breath and smile
without discouragement.
The times when you couldn't think
of anything sad
even if you tried.
I don't want to open my eyes
but I do.

For when I open my eyes
I see a glimpse of grass
through the gate.
The grass is like proof,
Proof that there is life,
proof that there is love,
And proof that there is
happiness beyond these dreadful gates.

So as I sit here
All Alone
Thinking of the good times I had,
I wait
I wait for these gates to open,
For the guard to let me through,
to let me feel the green grass'
under my feet.
That is freedom
and freedom is all I ask.

by Adam

a continuation of the incredible writings my 7th grade students did after studying the Holocaust.

multitude monday-misty watercolor memories

I so loved the effects of the watercolor device on the photo editing program that I use that I decided it was one of my blessings to give thanks for this week.

Because of that, all the photos depicting the things that I am grateful for will be altered in some way by the editing program, most of them by the watercolor feature.


BLUE BAYOU
For beautiful sunsets over water--I literally cannot get enough of them.

My good friend, Marianne, took this picture. They live in Louisiana and

have a bayou in their backyard.

Sunlight filtering through the trees again. smile--well, through clouds mostly, I guess.

For small roads with no telephone poles and no billboard signs.

This is a photo I took near Welcome Home, Arkansas. Don't you just love that name. The story goes that they cannot keep the highway sign announcing the name of the small community because someone steals it every time they put up a new one.

For lifelong bff's, no matter how far apart your paths take you.

My best friend, Marilyn, and I when we were 16 years old. She is on the left.

I won't even say how many years ago this was taken.

For barefoot sunset walks with friends and colleagues along California beaches in January.

This photo was taken on a school trip several years ago. It was cold and we were carrying lots of junk but it was worth it. This is in Carmel.

One of my favorite watercolor memories: Some of my former 5th grade students

This is an picture of my students and me singing Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer at a school Christmas program.

So, so thankful for these precious granddaughters and for all of them.

This is three of six of my granddaughters. I love this picture because I think it looks like it was taken 50 years ago.

Lastly, one of my favorite memories in the whole world--rain pelting down on a tin roof.

We ate in a restaurant the other night that was decorated with tin walls and old pictures. It reminded me of the days of living in a small, primitive tinned-roof house with my mom, dad, older brother and younger sister.

Guess some of the memories are like the rain that drips down the narrow valleys of rust and metal, not stopping by for a long visit, just rolling by to let us know they are still in the vicinity. Some of those droplets begged to be heard, to be revisited; some pound on the door of our hearts with the deliberate intention of waking us from a sound sleep, of forcing us to deal with them and the ruts they create coming so forcefully off the roof with no gutter to stop them from their downward descent.
And then there are those that slowly and quietly slip off the roof splashing ever so softly into rain barrels collecting there to be used at a later moment for quenching the nostalgia of our hearts. It is those that I am dwelling on today. Thank you Lord for quiet times to reflect on layers of misty watercolor memories that encircle us like a rainbow.

So thankful for misty, watercolor memories


Dianne

Blessings #31-38

posted in community with

misty watercolor memories

maybe someday




they will be misty




maybe someday black and white




But for today




they are in crystal clear high definition color (my memories--not the pictures LOL)

Kendall scored his first high school touchdown last night. I want so much to hold this memory as clearly as I can but I know just like almost all memories it will fade and pass with time. Kendall, I am posting this for you so that it will be as clear 50 years from now as it was tonight. Thank you for giving me so, so many wonderful memories.

ScriptureART

Just thought I would let you know that I have opened a new shop on Etsy.com. You can locate my storefront at

http://www.scriptureart.etsy.com/

Please run over and check me out.

I am just getting started stocking the shop but will be adding items daily for a while. Right now our items consist of jewelry only but in the days to come, I will be adding works of fine art and prints of some of my more popular pieces of art. Hope to see you there.

And Carol, I didn't ask for permission but may I have permission to use your stained glass window as my storefront design? Actually, it is already hanging so I took liberties. LOL

a house of prayer

In preparation for prayer

This is a picture of a picture of a picture so please forgive the blurriness, size, and reflections. However, the juxtaposition of the bride and the tomb fascinated me and I thought personified so to speak "A picture is worth a thousand words." Now if this tomb were white washed, it would really speak what Jesus is trying to say to us.

I get myself and my house all washed up and pretty on the outside, even as a bride adorns herself for her groom but as Jesus told the Pharisees, "the inside is like a tomb--full of the stench of dead men's bones--"

Matthew 23:27-28
27 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean. 28 In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness."

"So he took down Jesus' body and wrapped it in a long linen cloth and laid it in a new, unused tomb hewn into the rock." TLB Luke 23:53-54

I do try to make our house of brick and mortar a house of prayer with inspiring pictures and lots of scripture that adorns the walls, but I think much more important to God is how do I prepare my body for prayer, the physical house that I dwell in while on this planet.

Scripture says, "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body." 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

It also says, "Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out the merchants and their customers. He knocked over the tables of the money changers and the stalls of those selling doves. He said, "The Scriptures declare, 'My Temple will be called a place of prayer,' but you have turned it into a den of thieves!" Matthew 21:12-13

I wonder if this is a picture of how he feels when He sees me filling my body and spirit with the junk of this world. After all, He says that my body is His temple. Do I really believe that?

Father, I pray that my body will be a temple where You feel at home, a place where there is no offense to You, a holy place filled with the glory of Your presence. I pray that you will fill me with Your wisdom, Your knowledge, Your grace, and Your glory so that all I meet will know I have communed with the great God of the Universe, and the God of my body, Your Temple. What a humbling thought! my body--Your Temple. What an awesome fact! my body--Your Dwelling Place!

If the crucified body of Jesus deserved an unused tomb, doesn't the risen King need and deserve a clean dwelling place.

Prepare me for prayer, Oh Father. Make my body--Your Temple, new, unused! You are the only One who can drive out the things of this world. Make me spotless for Your sake.

Amen

posted in community with the sojourners at

Dearest Lindsay, I took the liberty to post this picture of you, dear niece, since your photographer let you post your pictures of Facebook. Thank you.