Thankful: That Life is Not a Story Line

Whoever of you loves life 

and desires to see many good days,

keep your tongue from evil

and your lips from speaking lies.

Turn from evil and do good;

Seek peace and pursue it.

Psalm 34:12-14

Downtonites - that's what devotees of the British television show, Downton Abbey, are called on Twitter and other social media.  Those of us who claim the title (yes indeed, you read it here!) are mildly to massively addicted to Mary and Matthew, Robert and Cora, Sybil and Tom, poor Edith, the magnificent Lady Violet Crawley, and the whole crew of downstairs fame.  I have followed Downton Abbey through all three seasons - laughing, wincing, crying, smirking, sobbing.  Some of the story lines are better than others, but all in all, it is an amazing drama - an gripping soap opera.

The writer of Downton Abbey, Julian Fellowes, has remarked that in any good soap opera, when everything is going well, something has to go wrong.  He is as good as his word, especially in Season 3.  Sybil and Tom are finally both out of Ireland and settled down at the Abbey?  Fine.  Let's have Sybil die following childbirth.  Mary and Matthew get together after two seasons of unbelievable ups and downs, cement a stable marriage and loving relationship, and produce the necessary heir.  But Dan Smith, the actor for the character of Matthew, is working on Broadway and wants a break from the series?  Fine.  Let's kill Matthew off just after he leaves the hospital where he holds his new-born son for the first time and his wife for the last time.  Really?  I mean, really??

Of course, life does mirror art in many ways.  I am grateful, however, that neither creative script writers nor stalled contract negotiations are setting the timeline for my life on this earth.  But there is a truth in Downton Abbey's travails that applies to all of us on this spinning planet:  in real life as well as in fiction, there are no guarantees.  Tomorrow is not promised to any of us.  We have today - this hour, this minute.  What will you do with the precious time you have this day?

Behold, now is the accepted time;

now is the day of salvation.

~ 2 Corinthians 6:2