Tonight, we watched "A Beautiful Mind," and for once I put myself in Alicia's position. What would I do if confronted with her situation? Before now, I always put myself in John Nash's shoes. What would I do if my husband went insane?
This last Sunday the sermon at Grace was on being a wife. I can't say that I enjoyed it, but I did get lots of questions at least. It emphasized being submissive, humble, and trusting God. All good, I just was hoping that domestic abuse might be addressed. I have a few friends that need some counsel there and don't feel they can ask for help because they'll just be told they are obviously not submitting properly.
Alicia is a very headstrong woman. Aggressive enough to pull the two of them together when John Nash had no social skills. And yet, there was something undeniably beautiful and right about her too. She accepted John and advised him while giving him room and time to grow. She stopped him when he was wrong (sinning, so to speak) and loved him as much as she could. I think that there were two parts to that love she gave him. One was supporting him without coddling and another was rebuking his sin without coddling. No matter how far gone he was, she always tried to give him chances and didn't throw it in his face when he was not the man she needed him to be. She was an admirable woman even in very tough circumstances.
I was watching some musicians through the practice room doors the other day. I watched as the vocalist would tell the pianist what piece they were to do and the pianist would start playing that song (she was prepared to do so, of course) and at the right time, the vocalist would come in over top of her harmony. She would play loud or soft depending on the vocalist's dynamic choices. The vocalist messed up occasionally, but he fixed it later without the pianist saying anything or hinting that he did. And because of that, he took responsibility for those mistakes and the pianist helped him fix them by telling him if he got it right, encouraging him.
It was a beautiful picture of a relationship. I noticed that the two weren't playing the same instrument or even the same part. That's because it only works if you have two different parts. One clearly supported the other while he led and the vocalist respected the pianist's opinion and talents highly, even if he couldn't truly appreciate all she did. And you know what, she never did enlighten him on that bit of just how hard she works outside the time together.
Just a few thoughts.
