Words that Never Leave You: “Be grateful. Be alive. Be happy. Be careful.”

Part Thirty in an ongoing series from Hollie's book "Words That Never Leave You: Fifty Pearls of Wisdom and Reflection from Survivors Across the World."

Soon after ISIS tore through large swaths of Iraq, I found myself with dozens of displaced Christians desperately seeking shelter at the Mar Elia Chaldean Catholic Church in Erbil. Some children squealed in and played in the garden beneath the blinking cold light, while others stared silently through frosted glass windows and worlds which did not belong to them.

I pivoted toward the sinking daylight and noticed the hand-scrawled writing on the whiteboard:

“Be grateful. Be alive. Be happy. Be careful.”

That was the community’s motto for healing.

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