My three-year-old granddaughter loves to chat with me while I’m putting on my makeup in the guest bathroom of her home while on my visits. I always sneak a little on her face while I’m at it!
One morning, she glanced over at the bathtub while we were chatting and said, “I used to take baths in that bathtub when I was little.”
“You did?” I replied.
“Yes, when I was little. When I had tiny feet, teeny tiny feet.”
Tiny feet
Her comment immediately took me back to the 1970s when Dr. Russell Sacco famously shared a photograph of the tiny feet of an aborted baby resting between his fingers. The image was intended to show just how small, yet remarkably well-formed, these little feet were. He used the photograph to help people understand that unborn babies are not merely “a clump of cells,” as many advocates of abortion rights argued at the time, but developing human beings. His hope was that the photograph would cause abortion-minded mothers to reconsider their choice.
Those tiny, perfectly formed feet, complete with delicate toes, could belong to no one other than a tiny human.
Thankfully, this simple yet powerful photograph influenced many people and helped save the lives of countless babies. Hope for the unborn was beginning to emerge.
Silent witnesses to unspeakable evil
In comparison, one of the most remarkable images from my visit to the Holocaust museum in Washington, D.C. was a railway car overflowing with shoes. I do not recall seeing any explanatory signage nearby. None was needed. The display spoke for itself.
During the Holocaust, millions of Jews were transported by train to concentration camps, gas chambers, and ultimately to the crematoria. Their lives had been taken, and their bodies had long since vanished, but this mountain of shoes cried out to everyone who passed by: Look what this evil has done.
As I studied the pile, I noticed how small many of the shoes were. Most were tiny compared to my size 9½ shoes. Some undoubtedly belonged to children. Most, however, appeared to be adult footwear, just much smaller than what we commonly see today.
The shoes themselves were well made and of high quality, suggesting the comfortable and prosperous lives many of their owners had once enjoyed. Then, in an unfathomable tragedy, they were stripped of their humanity, rounded up like cattle, and sent to their deaths. The shoes remained as silent witnesses to lives cut short and to the devastating consequences of hatred and evil.
Although, these victims may have been small in stature, they were giants in courage, character, and human dignity. And they never lost hope.
Thankful, yet troubled
This is a blog about gratitude, however. And I am profoundly thankful that the Holocaust ended and that freedom prevailed in that war. Even though antisemitism is once again rearing its ugly head, at least for now the gas chambers stand empty.
Yet that is not the case for the unborn. Despite laws enacted to protect them, the fervent prayers of countless Christians, and the tireless efforts of pregnancy resource centers and pro-life organizations, the number of abortions remains tragically high.
It is a deeply discouraging and troubling reality.
Hope beyond the darkness
In spite of these bleak statistics, I remain optimistic and thankful because I know this tragedy, too, will one day come to an end. Evil may seem to prevail for a time, but in the end, it always loses. That day may not arrive until Jesus returns to establish His kingdom on earth, but I believe a time is coming when abortion will cease, and no human life will be destroyed simply because it exists.
For me, that day cannot come soon enough.
How about you?
In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish. – Matthew 18:13
For more of my thoughts on gratitude during tough times, check out this post.
Just testing this out