The sun rose on our day of sightseeing with my parents who are in town from Southern California. My Dad and I took a little jaunt to the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. I find very few museums and memorials that strike a chord deep in my soul. I enjoy the beauty and splendor of the place, however, I often find it hard to connect to the deeper message which each notch, etching, or formation in stone and metal often presents. I don't think I could have prepared myself for way the organizers of this museum placed a horrific era of genocide right in my face. While only halfway through the realistic settings of the exhibition's cold brick walls and raised wooden floors, I started to understand the immense fear which ruled the minds and thoughts of the Jewish people in Europe at that time. If you ever make it to Washington DC, this museum should be at the top of your list. I rediscovered the meaning of a word I tend to forget sometimes, tolerance!
I have never felt a fear like the victims of the holocaust were unduly subjected to, but I knew that fear has made it tough for me to really enjoy life at times. I leave today with the excerpt below as my parting thought. I read it on my Facebook page and felt that somebody else might be able to relate, whether it be one, or many.
"If we were to write a history of our fears, we would realize that about 90 percent of the things we worried about never happened. We would realize that about half of the things that did happen were actually brought about or intensified by fear. And we would realize that most of the bad things we couldn't control anyway.
God repeatedly tells his people not to fear, even in the midst of their trials. Nothing in our lives is beyond His ability to control. "
Jeremiah 46:27-28
-NIV Once-A-Day Bible
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