“Beauty is everywhere when you know where to look for it.”

– Alice Herz-Sommer, 1903-2014

Beloved Pianist and Holocaust Survivor

 

Do you believe beauty is everywhere if you know where to look for it? If you lost loved ones to the Holocaust and were imprisoned yourself, would that still be your view?

 

It seems that few if any escape the prison that suffering brings. Be it for a day or a lifetime, torturous or merely a nagging interruption to a joyful life, be it physical, emotional, relational, or spiritual – we all come to know some degree of suffering and pain, for some a sorrow that enshrouds their entire world. It can become a darkness where little light seems to penetrate. But a holocaust survivor says she finds beauty everywhere. Another shares, “When you come out of Hell, you realize there are only a few important things in life: life itself, relationships, and faith.”

 

Actually, when it comes down to brass tacks, what choice do we have in the crucible of pain, sorrow, and suffering? We can’t escape it. It will demand we attend to it. But do we have to be crushed by it? Is there a way to transcend its vise grip on us? Can we choose to rise above it, to find our “more than a conqueror” spirit we are promised? Can we choose, like Job, to praise God while we scrape away the boils of pain that wrack our bodies and souls?

 

I don’t know of anyone who can do this in their own power, most certainly not me! In the midst of cancer I told God six times, “I give up. Take me home. I’m done with this.” I am convinced that my pain was small compared to what others’ endure and yet it was real enough for me. And each of those times, He held me patiently and lovingly, reminding me that His grace is indeed sufficient, even if I don’t sense it. We don’t have to sense God’s love for it to be real any more than a child who defies you even as you love them dearly.

 

I’ve decided to believe God at His Word even though I’m too feeble to understand it. His supernatural power within us continues to sustain us, no matter what this life throws at us. It is a calming peace that transcends all understanding. It might not calm the storm raging within us. But it is able to calm us in the middle of the storm. I don’t think it is a heroic act to believe this. I think it is a choice of faith if not desperation that in the midst of the darkness, His light will shine and reveal beauty yet to be found. What other choice would you make?

 

“We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed. 2 Corinthians 4:8-10

 

And the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:7