How Getting Down Can Lift You Up
This week Steve has been at a meeting in Orlando. I came down with a stomach bug the day he left. After the initial misery of the situation, I did little else but stay in our recliner and watch one cheesy movie after another. Most of them I wouldn't have rated higher than two stars out of four.
Today I watched a movie that instead of helping me just pass the time, it also led me to reconsider the value of the people in my life. Mrs. Palfry at the Claremont is set in London. For the good of everyone she decides to live in a less than desirable residential hotel. Most of the residents seem cut off from those they have known before, and Sara Palfry soon realizes that no one outside of the Claremont is seeking her out either. She is comforted by the memory of a loving husband long gone.
Her daughter only speaks of her duty owed to her mother but there seems to be little indication of real love. She visits her mother only once and that was to berate her for an incident with Sara's grandson.He failed to return a phone call and only visits many weeks later when harassed by his mother. He deals daily with treasures in a museum where he works but he is blind to the treasure that is his grandmother.
After a nasty fall on a rainy street, Sara meets the young man who will soon be willing to play the part of her grandson and then live the role. Unlike Desmond, the grandson, this young man sees value in Sara's kindness, the orderliness of her life, her love for her deceased husband, and her desire for some independence. This man, not related to her, greatly enriched her life, just as she wonderfully changed his. The two people related to her couldn't be bothered.
How often are we like Sara's two relatives? We overlook the people in our lives who do not have the same political views, the same educational background, or the same standard of living as we do. We underestimate all the ways God graciously works in our lives showing us His character and His creation through all types of people. What have we missed by hurrying past people with our blinders, safely limiting our vision? What riches could have been ours if we had only taken the time?
Mrs. Palfry was in an often overlooked group. As a woman in her "golden" years, she was usually seen as some one to be tolerated. Care did not need to extend beyond what was necessary to ensure some sort of medical and nutritional well being. Responding to the real person was not necessary. Responding to the stereotyped view of the elderly was enough as long as the response stayed within the boundaries of what was proper. Her "grandson" was forever changed by Sara because he took the time to really see her.
As followers of Christ we should have excellent vision as we live out the gospel. We should see sin in ourselves and others and then know how to deal with it by God's grace. We need to take off our blinders and prayerfully consider how God wishes to minister to us through the rich, the poor, the young, the old, the educated, and the not well educated.
For the Lord sees not as man sees : man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. I Samuel 16 : 7a
Today I watched a movie that instead of helping me just pass the time, it also led me to reconsider the value of the people in my life. Mrs. Palfry at the Claremont is set in London. For the good of everyone she decides to live in a less than desirable residential hotel. Most of the residents seem cut off from those they have known before, and Sara Palfry soon realizes that no one outside of the Claremont is seeking her out either. She is comforted by the memory of a loving husband long gone.
Her daughter only speaks of her duty owed to her mother but there seems to be little indication of real love. She visits her mother only once and that was to berate her for an incident with Sara's grandson.He failed to return a phone call and only visits many weeks later when harassed by his mother. He deals daily with treasures in a museum where he works but he is blind to the treasure that is his grandmother.
After a nasty fall on a rainy street, Sara meets the young man who will soon be willing to play the part of her grandson and then live the role. Unlike Desmond, the grandson, this young man sees value in Sara's kindness, the orderliness of her life, her love for her deceased husband, and her desire for some independence. This man, not related to her, greatly enriched her life, just as she wonderfully changed his. The two people related to her couldn't be bothered.
How often are we like Sara's two relatives? We overlook the people in our lives who do not have the same political views, the same educational background, or the same standard of living as we do. We underestimate all the ways God graciously works in our lives showing us His character and His creation through all types of people. What have we missed by hurrying past people with our blinders, safely limiting our vision? What riches could have been ours if we had only taken the time?
Mrs. Palfry was in an often overlooked group. As a woman in her "golden" years, she was usually seen as some one to be tolerated. Care did not need to extend beyond what was necessary to ensure some sort of medical and nutritional well being. Responding to the real person was not necessary. Responding to the stereotyped view of the elderly was enough as long as the response stayed within the boundaries of what was proper. Her "grandson" was forever changed by Sara because he took the time to really see her.
As followers of Christ we should have excellent vision as we live out the gospel. We should see sin in ourselves and others and then know how to deal with it by God's grace. We need to take off our blinders and prayerfully consider how God wishes to minister to us through the rich, the poor, the young, the old, the educated, and the not well educated.
For the Lord sees not as man sees : man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. I Samuel 16 : 7a
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