FORTIFIED?

My latest decadent pastime involves listening to someone else read Agatha Christie novels to me. Hugh Fraser and David Suchet have a real talent for bringing Hercule Poirot stories to life better than any other narrator in the audible.com arsenal.  This week, I’m deep into The Hollows, a winding story involving a slew of characters that descend upon a country estate for the weekend.  Before the murder is committed, per usual, Christie provides the most unlikely yet informative comments about life, good and evil, human nature and love.  In one passage, after weeks of searching, Henrietta, a celebrated sculptor, finds a country girl to model for her.  There was something about the girl’s vapid face, agreeable mouth and wide eyes that made her a perfect stand in for the blind woman Henrietta wanted to create out of clay.  

On the surface, the model that Hernietta discovered was perfect.  However soon after the girl arrived at the studio, Henrietta discovered that the girl's innocent expression was due to the fact that the child was severely near sighted.  Once the girl became familiar with her surroundings and began to talk, her facial lines along with her speech hardened revealing a spiteful and mean spirited personality.  

All the while Henrietta sculpted, the girl recounted her exploits, gossiped about her neighbors and boasted about her accomplishments. When the piece was complete, Henrietta paid the model and ushered her quickly out of the studio.   She covered the piece with a cloth and went to bed to rest.  A few hours later she when she removed the cloth, she was horrified.  Why?  Somehow, despite her best efforts, she had worked a bit of the meanness that the girl exuded into the clay.  How had it happened?  Easily enough… 

We are such delicate creatures.  Any addictive (good or bad) that seeps into our environment has an effect.  We become what we eat, hear, touch, see.  Is there no wonder that many of us are broken, angry, sad, weary individuals who have encountered too many pollutants, too much evil, too much heartbreak, too much pain.  Even when we know that those around us (their mannerisms, speech, actions, decisions, habits, friends) are toxic, many of us believe that  we are strong enough to withstand it or that we can fortify ourselves to block out the inevitable effects.  We are not.  We can not. 

But thanks be to God, there is a Power that can fortify us; there is a Balm that can repair us.  God has directed us to seek his presence daily.  Just consistently thinking about HIM, his goodness, His perfect love, His Spirt, His Son’s work - Reflecting on ALL OF GOD’s ways will work to reset our equilibrium. God Power enables us to: forgive when we are abused, love our enemies, endure heartbreak, smile in terrible conditions, push beyond our limits.

There is perfect peace in Christ Jesus, In the Spirit, In God’s plan.  There is no other way to move through this life without conforming to the ways of the world.