While grieving the last season of Downton Abbey is not in the same category as losing a loved one, it is indeed loss. How can we say goodbye to these characters that we have laughed and cried with for 7 years? Last night, Jan 3, 2016 was the beginning of the end of our weekly relationship with this beautiful British drama. In honor of this last season, it seemed right to post about one particular God moment I experienced while watching this show.
Spoiler alert from Season 4 opener:
Episode 4.01 aired on Jan 5, 2014 here in the U.S. Mary was in mourning and sinking into despair (for those two or three people who didn’t see the finale to season 3, I won’t tell you who dies). In one scene, her grandmother, Lady Violet Crawley, sits at the side of Mary’s bed and shares with her this truth,
“the fact is you have a straightforward choice before you, you must choose either death or life”.
Some people don’t believe that God speaks through anything other than scripture but I have often heard God’s voice through music, media, art, literature, creation etc. Don’t take my word for it! St Augustine said, “but let every good and true Christian understand that wherever truth may be found, it belongs to his Master”. All Truth is God’s truth.
Lady Violet, the Dowager Countess of Grantham, may or may not have known she was quoting the Old Testament. In Deuteronomy 30, Moses gives the Israelites the same choice. He implores them to choose obedience to God and live or choose disobedience and die.
I’m not trying to equate grief and disobedience. Jesus, God’s son, grieved when his close friend, Lazarus died. Grief is natural when we lose someone. I do believe it is possible to grieve and still choose between life and death. Some people almost stop living when a loved one dies. If you have experienced loss, you know what I mean. You may not be ready to move from mourning to dancing but each day you are given the choice of life over death. Here is how that choice looks in my life.
- When I live constantly looking backward to days before loss, rather than forward, I choose death.
- When I continue asking the what ifs rather than what now or what next, I choose death.
- When I relive my memories over and over rather than also create new ones with those who are still living, I choose death.
However:
- When I move outside my own pain and share in another person’s grief or joy, I choose life.
- When I honor my loved one by giving time or money to something about which she was passionate, I choose life.
- When I keep living and loving others, I choose life.
I watched the scene between Mary and her grandmother 7 months after my daughter’s death. I heard God’s truth and it spoke to my heart. God gave me a straightforward choice between death and life. I chose Life! Maybe you have been given the same choice today. The death you have experienced may be a person or a relationship or even a dream that was never fulfilled. If you are grieving, listen to God’s Truth and choose life!
If you are watching Downton Abbey for one last season, join me in looking for more God moments! Searching for God’s truth in all things can sometimes include sipping tea and eating scones on Sunday night with our good friends across the pond.
Mourning and Dancing 