The Kitchen Sink
An occasional piece of paper
August 8, 2010
Vol. 13 no. 31
Alexander Solzhenitsyn wrote a book, The Gulag Archipelago, telling about the Soviet forced labor and concentration camp system. Solzhenitsyn’s own experience as a political prisoner in a Gulag labor camp led him to tell the story about the time when he believed all hope for him was lost. In the camp he worked 12 hours a day, with little to eat, and he became very ill. The doctors believed that he was dying. One day, as he was working under the intense heat shoveling sand, he stopped his digging. He knew that he was risking a beating from the guards, but he did not care. Maybe they would kill him. He did no want to go on anyway. Then, another prisoner slowly and cautiously approached him. With his cane the other prisoner quickly drew a cross in the sand between them and then just as quickly erased it. That incident gave Solzhenitsyn the hope he had so nearly lost. His Christian hope was renewed even though the situation did not change. He found courage to get through the day and the days of imprisonment that followed.
Solzhenitsyn found inside of himself that tiny mustard seed of faith, when nothing else was left. That spark of faith ignited in him the feeling of hope for his future. Our challenge today is to look beyond our feelings of grief, loss and aloneness and have faith in our God who is always with us. God walks beside us, giving us the courage we need, no matter how rough and rocky our journey in life may be. God is faithful. God is good. In God, and through God’s grace there is hope for all of us..
Heather Rogers
Knox-Metropolitan United Church
Regina, Saskatchewan