Recently I watched a movie entitled The Pursuit of Happyness starring Will Smith. It’s a hard movie to watch, for anyone who has experienced a very low time in his/her life, especially hard, but essentially a true story. In that movie a joke is told by the five year old, who equally is a star in the movie. Essentially the joke goes like this:
There was a man who was drowning in the bay,
A boat came by and a crew member asked if the man needed help.
The man replied, “no thanks, God will save me.”
Another even larger boat came by and asked the man the same question.
Again the man replied, “no thanks, God will save me.”
The man drowned and went to heaven, where he met God.
The man asked God: “why didn’t you save me?”
And God replied: “you foolish man, I sent two boats for you.”
Many years ago I experienced a very low point in my life where it seemed that all was lost. A career, I had spent many years preparing for, was suddenly taken from me and I could not find work in that profession, though I tried for nearly a decade. Fundamentally I was un-employable. I am certain that many of my readers have had some experience of this sort. That is why the movie is so intriguing. While I was at that stage of my life, an angel came to me in the form of a young woman, who would befriend me. In my appreciation for her gift of friendship, I gave her a necklace. One day she came by the house and had dinner with me, my wife and family wearing that necklace. The next day I wrote this poem:
A necklace
Last night when you arrived
I was surprised to find a gift,
a gift driving my hurt away,
the wearing of a necklace.
Those few moments I could tease,
brought joy to what had been tense.
The sorrows that I felt
were only felt deep in the night.
Then I know the part of me
was parting and going on
to your life, where I had never been,
a place far from my aesthesis.
You are not a past memory
you are the angel sent to comfort me,
when all was lost and dying.
You brought me life and peace.
I will not see you drive away today,
nor wave a fond parting gesture.
You have been that sweet memory,
I must take to every place I go.
That was nearly 40 years ago, and I have had many angels sent to me at various low points in my life. Reflecting back on it now, I recognize them as angels, come to announce the good news that one should ὕπαγε, ἡ πίστις σου σέσωκέ σε, as Jesus announced to the blind man, Bartimaeus (Mark 10:46-52).
The most recent angel, who God has sent to me, has been a friend for nearly 20 years. That angel and I will take a road trip today, to explore some places nearby, where we have never been. I sometimes reflect on the fact that, she came to me when I was at another low point in my life, but she also was at a very low point herself. I wonder whether she was sent to me, or was I sent to her, it’s difficult to tell at times; we have become such close friends, sharing all that is most precious in our lives - our families. Which one of us is the drowning one, and which is the crewman on the boat? What I do know is that for each other, we have allowed ourselves to get up and press on, because the faith we have in ourselves and providence has (already) saved us and given us the courage to continue, despite adversity.
At the very end of the movie, the Will Smith character becomes a wealthy stockbroker and the movie has a kind of modern day Job flavor. What we need to do is recognize and acknowledge the angels sent to us at those low points, and pass on the good news that, above all else, we can carry on, because ἡ πίστις ἡμῶν σέσωκε ἡμᾶς.
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