by Marianne Clyde
“Hold everything in your hands lightly, otherwise it hurts when God pries your fingers open,” Corrie Ten Boom famously asserted. After hiding Jews from the Nazis in her home in the Netherlands, Corrie and her family were arrested and sent to a series of prisons, finally ending up in Ravensbruck Concentration Camp.
A woman of deep faith, she lived her life on purpose. She lived with her family, became the first woman watch maker, helped to rehabilitate “mentally disabled” people and offered respite to survivors of the war after she was released. And continued all that work until her death at 91.
Like lots of women, she experienced much heartache, as well. At 14, she met the love of her life, but he ended up marrying someone to please his family and broke Corrie’s heart. She lived the rest of her life as a single woman. At the concentration camp, Corrie and her older sister Betsie, standing naked, watched a guard beat another prisoner. Corrie watched dear Betsie’s health deteriorate and die at age 59 in prison. Twelve days after that, apparently due to a “clerical error” Corrie was released from Ravensbruck. One week later, all women in her age range were executed in the gas chambers.
Corrie learned to live one day at a time. She learned to forgive even the officers in the concentration camp because she knew that true forgiveness really sets you free. She also overcame immense rage and anger at the man who betrayed them to the Nazis and forgave him as well.
She learned these lessons in very hard ways and I think of her advice often about holding the things of this world loosely. Learning to love each day for what it offers. Learning to let go of the past and live life on purpose.
Action step: I recommend Corrie Ten Boom’s book, “The Hiding Place.” Several of the stories and lessons in this book have stuck with me for many years. Particularly her work with forgiveness and holding things lightly.
