Finding Grace In The Soloist
Last night Joanna and I went and saw The Soloist, the story of a Nathaniel Ayers, a schizophrenic cello player, and Steve Lopez, a news reporter, who befriends and at points exploits Ayers.
The film was good, not perfect but very good, and the uncertainty and long term challenges of interacting with the mentally ill clearly came across.
What really struck me was the film’s interaction with faith and spirituality. In the middle of the film Lopez takes Ayers to see the LA Philharmonic practice. Lopez is bewildered by the way in which Ayers is transformed by the music. Lopez is frustrated by the fact that he does not seem to be able to love anything in the same way that Ayers loves music. In his frustration Lopez asks his friend and ex-wife what is it? What does he have that allows him to love music like that? Her response is “grace”.
What a profound, and accurate response.
Though the world is broken, though we are perpetually hurting ourselves and each other. There is grace. There are many good things in this world that we abuse and neglect and yet miraculously they remain present. I think that if we take a good long look at ourselves, we have lots of things that we don’t deserve. Music being a chief example. I see grace in my marriage, I see it in the beautiful and broken community of friends that I have. I see grace in the warmth of a spring afternoon. I see grace in my ability to appreciate great art and music. Where do you see grace?