Facades and Fancies

  

                                  

Home security is a concern for most people here, though it seems the property crime rate is low generally. But trust is  low as well, so the best measures to provide security are taken to protect residences, vehicles and such. Virtually every business or property of any size has a security service person posted out front, or guarding the gate and teh parked vehicles. I'm not sure what the going rate is for this occupation, the duties for which also seem to include general helpfulness, sweeping off the walk in front, and assisting with minor repairs. Mostly I think that is to ward off the boredom which otherwise plagues them, smartphones and social tea-drinking arrangements notwithstanding.

                                  

But I really like to see the sense of style and design that come into play as people consider their face to the street, and their security together. As I walked about one of teh Ho Chi Minh neighborhoods of late, I came across some of these pictured gates doing more than just bidding intruders without the keys to be gone.

                                  

There is more than just utility here- there is a coherence with the intended style of the house, and probably the personality of the owner, or at least the original owner, bringing together traces of classical thought, modernism, or perhaps mathematical thinking and style. It sort of reminded me of walking about Tallinn a few years back and seeing a similar array of unique doors though the old town area there, each with some story to tell about their creator, and their current caretaker.

                                  

                                  

   

There are also some who have taken the walls in front of their home to a similar stylistic level. I liked this "green wall" both for its ecological content, but also for the merging of natural colors with the otherwise geometric design of the wall. Similar floral walls appear around holidays around town with the contrasting colors proclaiming the virtues of the season or the hero being acclaimed.

       

These issues in the physical surroundings are not without their spiritual likenesses. Is my perimeter defended with razor wire that is rusted and menacing, or with something to intrigue the mind, delight the eye, or assuage other senses? In facing the world am I sufficiently assertive in repulsing those who would harm my home or my being without being abhorrent to others who pass by, indeed to the point of perhaps even being enticing to those influences that are goodm, wholesome virtuous or praiseworthy? Am I prone to be ostentatious as I face out to the world, or am I willing to meet them in humility, yet warmth and beauty, perhaps even elegance of spirit? These balances are hard to strike, yet are worth considering, not because we care more of what the world thinks of us, but because of what kind of influence we wish to have on the world. I think some of these gates and barriers begin to strike that balance, as I hope I do.

       

When I think of the young elders and sisters who serve here with us, I see that they too seek to strike that right balance of righteousness that will not be despoiled, along with a meek beauty of spirit and love that invites all to come and learn of their message of Jesus Christ. When gathered together they are a mighty force of strength,m even imposing. But as just two young boys, or young women, they are true to the scriptural description as the "weak and simple" things of the earth. Yet they carry the most powerful message one can imagine.

        

 
We met this week with some of them and heard them speak of faith to work miracles in the lives of those they love, through the power of the atonement of Jesus Christ whom they serve. But even more tangibly, we see that their own process of growth, of change, of repentance and conversion unto him. They come with an inkling of his love and mercy, and they soon come to speak powerfully and personally of his grace and unceasing love, despite our weaknesses and infirmities. As we watch the season change here generally and in individual lives specifically, from one of gloom and darkness, with only an occasional flash of light here and there, to a bright day of hope, indeed a season of miracles, we are grateful for the light and shining sword that marks the way back to the Tree of Life, not there to repulse so much the unworthy, as to invite and cut aside the dross from all who seek to partake of the sweet fruits of repentance and the wholeness of the atonement.