I recently finished reading, "Cry, the Beloved Country" by Alan Paton, a book which immediately became a personal favorite. The story is developed around an elderly Zulu pastor in rural South Africa, 1946, and his journey to Johannesburg in search of his son. The story touches on several important social and environmental developments of the past century contributing to urbanization, poverty, crime, race relations and community fragmentation. More importantly though, the story exposes the subtle beauty and stabilizing strength of humility and love. It displays the power of forgiveness and culminates with a deeply personal commitment to faith in God and His goodness. In the final pages, Pastor Kumalo is alone, praying in the pre-dawn hours of what will be a terribly sad and solemn day. His prayer of thanksgiving reminds him of the myriad ways that God was present in his life and in his small community and leads him to contemplate the kindness of God:
"He pondered long over this, for might not another man, returning to another valley, have found none of these things? Why was it given to one man to have his pain transmuted into gladness? Why was it given to one man to have such an awareness of God? And might not another, having no such awareness, live with pain that never ended?"
There are people in our lives who impact us profoundly for good, not so much by their words as by the simple, small actions of their lives - actions they are unaware of, actions reflexively sprung from a depth and beauty of character cultivated by a life of faith and love. Pastor Kumalo is one of these people, and reading "Cry, the Beloved Country" through the eyes of humility and compassion certainly had this effect on me - it left me wanting to emulate this noble man and left me longing for a closer relationship with God.
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"More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces patience, and patience produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us." Romans 5:3-5
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"He pondered long over this, for might not another man, returning to another valley, have found none of these things? Why was it given to one man to have his pain transmuted into gladness? Why was it given to one man to have such an awareness of God? And might not another, having no such awareness, live with pain that never ended?"
There are people in our lives who impact us profoundly for good, not so much by their words as by the simple, small actions of their lives - actions they are unaware of, actions reflexively sprung from a depth and beauty of character cultivated by a life of faith and love. Pastor Kumalo is one of these people, and reading "Cry, the Beloved Country" through the eyes of humility and compassion certainly had this effect on me - it left me wanting to emulate this noble man and left me longing for a closer relationship with God.
______________
"More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces patience, and patience produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us." Romans 5:3-5
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