Downton Determination or Heavenly Hope
Over the last few weeks I’ve been watching Downton Abbey. I’d never seen it before and I’m thoroughly enjoying getting to know the characters and their comings and goings. This week the often acidic Dowager Countess showed one of her softer moments as she comforted her granddaughter, Edith. Edith was lamenting that it was beginning to feel as if God didn’t want her to ever be happy. The Countess responds with her age acquired wisdom that life is just a series of problems needing solutions. Once a problem is solved, she says, very often another presents itself requiring a fresh solution and so on until you die. Certainly if you’re a fan of Downton, you’ll be aware that there is no shortage of the need to creatively solve a variety of problems that both the family and their staff experience. Accident of birth whether high, middle, or low ranking, is no protection from life’s problems. The Countess’s view may be one we identify with, whereby we use our determination to overcome lif