Toward the end of, “A
River Runs Through It”, Norman Macleen and his Father have their last
conversation about Paul and his death. The Reverend Maclean asks Norman
one last time if he told him everything. Norman
responds, “I’ve said I’ve told you all I
know. If you push me far enough all I
really know is that he was fine fishermen.”
His father says, “You know
more than that, he was beautiful”.
Paul, beautiful? While he was beautiful with a fly rod it
seems he lived a rather clumsy life, reckless and selfish. Maybe we are all
this way in some sense and maybe in our state of selfishness and self
absorption, we can’t see the true beauty in others or ourselves. I know I often
cannot see the beauty in life. I often tend to see what is ugly. I tend to make
judgments declaring things as “ugly” instead of seeing the beautiful. I am hard on myself and hard on others.
It seems that the Reverend Maclean had a better perspective
on seeing the beauty of life. I am moved by how the Reverend Maclean sees Paul
as beautiful. In spite of all the pain and brokenness that occurred, in the
end, he sees his son as beautiful. And I think his view of his son as beautiful
goes beyond a fatherly love. It goes beyond a Christian virtue. His conclusion seems to run deeper, deeper
than the river they fished.
It seems that C.S Lewis also saw things this way. He writes,
“It is a serious thing to live in a
society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember the dullest and most
uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it
now, you would be strongly tempted to worship….We shall be remade, and we shall
find underneath a thing we have never imagined: a real man, an ageless god, a
son of God, strong, radiant, wise, beautiful, and drenched in joy.”
I try to think about this when I feel weak, unnoticed, down
and ineffective. “Strong, radiant, wise,
beautiful and drenched in joy.”
I try to think of this when I am fishing or stuck in traffic
and everyone seems annoying to me. I try to see, “real men, ageless gods”,
something even the best polarized glasses will never help me see.
No comments:
Post a Comment