“And preparing a new one for us on the morrow. The manna never stops flowing from his hand.”

“You see the hidden meaning in everything.”

“There is meaning in every atom of the universe. I find myself wondering, too, if all these sunrises and roses and living things must in fact be perishable. Otherwise we would not be so wondrously capable of beholding their beauty. Perhaps in the withering of the flower and the fading of the colors of the sunrise over the clouds, we are constantly forced to look beyond their passing forms into that great Soul of all created things where dwells the Father. If they were not perishable, we should only worship their bodies, their husks, and never seek the mysteries beyond.”

71 Life at Lebenshaus

71

Life at Lebenshaus

The baron sat down in his study to prepare himself for the day.

Ever since that morning after the war had broken out, more than three years earlier, when he had sought God for direction, opportunities for ministering to the Father’s children had not ceased.

Aaron’s family had naturally been the first they had taken in. But quickly there had been others. Strangers had been coming to Lebenshaus for years; they never knew why or how. Suddenly, however, they appeared more and more regularly. Before he knew it and without having sought it, the baron was an important link in the underground rescue network, meshing Christians and Jews in a loose federation of dangerous compassion.

Within months he and Aaron had begun a series of clandestine remodeling and construction projects to ensure the safety of their guests and the integrity of the secret ministry of Lebenshaus. They added rooms and passageways, doubled many interior walls for soundproofing, added bathrooms, and blocked off certain whole corridors.

Making use of the latest technology, they had incorporated warning lights, bells, and other means of communication in their scheme. The baron and the doctor found it a challenge to acquire supplies while keeping their work secret—a difficulty also experienced in the purchasing of food and in the logistical difficulties inherent in a myriad of other household details as time went on—and much of it had gone at a much slower pace than they might have liked. But in the end, most necessary modifications to house and garden had been safely completed.