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Yesterday was an upending day. A day I am now grateful for. In the hours of reflection I have come to many clearer thoughts than I held before. I have learned a lot about myself and about others. I have come to some conclusions, one of those revolves around the image of stained glass windows. Stained glass windows were common adornments in church’s, especially cathedrals, but smaller one had them, too. Even LDS churches have had them. The windows were depictions of sacred events or individuals. As the light fell through them they illuminated the surroundings and drew parishioners eyes to them. They were meant to uplift, to teach, to validate.
Stained glass windows don’t exist in many churches any more. Many are not the works of are they once were. I miss them. But I realized as members of this complex religion, everyone of us carries a stained glass window in our hearts. We each have things that this religion symbolizes to us. We imagine, desire, cling, and create a theology that answers our yearning. For one person it’s the idea of a prophet – a living Moses or Elias. For another it’s the links of eternity, keeping all that you cherish bound together. Still other’s love the covenant rituals performed. For many it’s a combination of pieces.
Week by week, day by day, experience by experience we each select the pieces and colors we desire in our window. The process of creating the window is so subtle we don’t even notice we are making it. But it means everything to us. Each week as we head to church to worship, we hang up our personal window. It encompasses us. I hear it in people’s testimony – or their monthly confession, which ever it is that Sunday. I hear it in their lessons. They teach what they cling to or what rings true to them.
The windows are sacred. Each of us think we all have the same window but we don’t. If we listen and observe carefully they are all different. The reason we think they are the same is because we use the same words in describing them – glass, color, etching – but the product is individual.
Yesterday I threw a rock through some one’s window. It was thoughtless. I was more concerned about my window, because mine looks different than hers. Together we will pick up the broken glass of our mutually shattered windows. We will each carefully graft back the image we see.
From now on though I will try to remember that the most beautiful edifices are the buildings with multiple different stained glass windows. And I will try hard not to put any rocks through others, because there are already too many broken stained glass windows to begin with.
Beautiful – truly and simply beautiful. Thank you!
So true, who am I to try and say what their truth should be! Thank you for this mom3! Really great post! :thumbup: Having followed the evolution of this incident, I must say that I am doubly impressed. I think it takes real maturity and empathy to put ourselves in the shoes of people who are different than us. I do wish that everyone could be more accepting of diversity, but I also realize that those that are the most rigid and least tolerant are sometimes the most fragile.
One of the things that I was conscious of after my assumptive world collapse was that I wanted to “event proof” my new assumptive world. I wanted to build a faith and belief that no tragedy, no new piece of information, no calamity would cause it to crumble. In earthquake zones they build buildings with the ability to sway. Rather than a linear schema where one assumption is built upon the other (BOM=JS Prophet=COJCLDS is true OR righteousness=blessings=happiness), my new assumptive reality allows for multiple possibilities. Aesop says, “It is better to bend than to break.”
So – in the measure that I have been successful in building a more shock resistant faith, I might be extra careful not to send shocks towards others. I presume that I could graciously endure their blustery self-assurance, are they capable of the same? With the ability to choose my response also comes greater responsibility for the consequences.
Well done. Would you mind if I used part of that in a talk? It fits in so well with theme I have been using this year. mom3, Wow, what a great post. It’s a profound message, and one I will think of often. I appreciate this insight because of how you came to it, and I think it is just wonderful.
I’ll add that multi-colored stained glass windows also served the edifice by adding diversity. As the light passed through the stained glass windows into the inside of the church, it created a pleasing multi-colored environment… without it the insides of those old churches would simply be gray. In the same way, each individual adds to the environment of the church. We should add our diverse light to the lovely mixture, but only in ways that uplift and enlighten, not in ways that obscure or destroy the other windows.
Thank you on multiple counts. Thank you for a community where rough days can be worked through in confidence. Thank you for being ambassadors of uplift on hard days and happy ones. Thank you for honesty. All of those have been the type of assistance everyone of you have given me. Not just at this time, but whenever I visit here. Someone has always written an uplifting comment or post that has helped me walk my road with dignity, grace, and enthusiasm (I’m using the Greek – God Within Us for enthusiasm). On Own Now- Thank you for the additional paragraph. I’m going to add it to my copy. Because those lights bonding together, bouncing off of each other, and illuminating others is the miracle of the window.
I would feel humbled if people use parts of it for their lives. Add to it, share it, edit it and improve it. Every time we share light, light grows. Over my time here I have used many of your profound words, sayings, and insights without asking. I am glad to return something to you. Again – thank you.
I’m sure I will be quoting from it on my personal blog at some point – and sharing the analogy in a talk at church. It really fits my orchestra soapbox from Elder Wirthlin’s talk, “Concern for the One”. In my youth I attended an LDS chapel that was over 100 years old – a grand old hall that wasn’t actually called a chapel; it was a tabernacle. It was built from huge sandstone blocks. It had a very high ceiling — probably at least 35-40 feet high on the sides and arching upwards in the middle. Down each side of the tabernacle it had tall (20 ft +) and thin (probably 4 feet) stained glass windows. The tabernacle was on a north/south axis, so the stained glass windows faced east and west. If you had 9 am sacrament meeting, the sunshine would stream through those stained glass windows and give that tabernacle the most amazing light. I understand why we don’t build such grand edifices any longer, but it’s a bit of shame we don’t. That’s a great analogy – one I’m going to think on for a while.
I’ve attended church in two buildings that had stained glass windows in the chapels – in Cambridge, MA and Quincy, IL. LOVED those buildings.
Hi mom3. Really beautiful parable. It’s a wonderful way of looking at people. I’ve often felt like the odd-one-out, but it’s great to remember we’re all in our own little bubble. It’s so true that everyone have their own little hobbyhorses.
I came across this post today and want to bump it up. Thanks for bumping this. Very, very, good thought which I am going to remember. Roy’s comment on the most unbending often being the most insecure inside is spot on I think. I’m related to people like this that thump their metaphorical chest loudly but are constantly on the edge of emotional crisis behind the scenes.
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