FOODFORTHOUGHT

A Match Made in Heaven (excerpts)

The day Oskar placed his grandmother's sapphire ring on Helga's
finger, her mother's wedding trunk came down from the attic. As was
the family custom, Helga would begin adding their names to the roster
of brides and grooms embroidered on a silk petticoat in the trunk.
From the time she was a little girl, she had dreamed of this special
day and had practiced her exquisite stitch.

Just as Helga completed her own name and was threading the needle for
Oskar's name, news came that the feared Gestapo had taken Oskar away.
Even though Oskar had fiercely opposed the Third Reich, no one had
believed such drastic action would be taken.

Inconsolable, Helga dropped her sewing with the unfinished names, and
the gown was returned to the trunk in the attic. With it went the
laughter and the joy of the young girl in love. As rumors of the
death camps reached their city, everyone--- even Helga --- doubted
that Oskar's name would ever be stitched upon the petticoat.

With each passing day, Helga retreated more deeply into her books,
rarely speaking a word. But what could her family do? All their
energies were devoted to surviving the war as the bombs one by one
destroyed their city and then their home.

When the bombing ceased, the family gathered to sift through the
rubble. Helga's mother spotted her wedding trunk, one of the few
possessions that had survived the blast. When she pulled the contents
from the battered trunk, the petticoat suddenly caught her eye. There
was Oskar's name --- someone had stitched it beside her daughter's
name! Everyone stared at the petticoat in disbelief, fearing the site
of this would drive Helga deeper into despair. Instead, she knelt
down beside the trunk and ran her fingers gingerly over Oskar's name.
From that day on, the joy came back into Helga's life, despite her
family's warnings that after all these years it was doubtful that
Oskar could have survived.

Liberation day came and went without any sign of Oskar, but Helga
continued to watch and wait for him. Months later a lone Holocaust
survivor hobbled into town. He stood before them, a skeleton of a
man, beyond recognition to everyone but Helga. The smile was
unmistakably Oskar's. Through the years the trunk has been pulled
out again and again for the weddings of the children and
grandchildren of this devoted couple. It is far more a reminder of
their love---it is a symbol of hope.

No one ever discovered who stitched Oskar's name on the petticoat,
but truly the faith and hope of that individual helped this couple's
love to survive.

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Faith is the way of holding onto what we hope for,
being certain of what we cannot see. (Hebrews 11:1)
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PRAYER
Help me Lord, to see the great investment of love, grace and divine power that you have placed in my life. Help me to see my life on earth as you see - and as it really is - a short time to produce fruits for eternal life. Do not allow me Lord, to lose sight of the most fundamental truths about my life.

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