My Faith Journey
by Susan Schefflein
| Woman Holding a Balance |
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I was feeling very bitter a few summers ago during a visit to my
brother in Washington, D.C. I had just discovered that a trusted
friend had been trying to stir up resentment against me to make
herself look better. I couldn't get over her betrayal.
I made the
usual tourist stops, seeing the sights, but my heart wasn't in it. I
kept thinking how much I wanted to punish my friend for what
she had done.
One day, as I walked in the National Gallery, I
came upon a room of sixteenth-century Dutch paintings and
noticed several Vermeers. In one of them, a young woman held
a scale in her right hand. Behind her on the wall of her room
hung a representation of the Last Judgment showing the agony
of souls condemned to hell.
In my bitterness, I thought of my
friend. My eyes moved slowly upward to the face of the woman
in Vermeer's painting. It was suffused with grace and soft light
as she gently lifted the scale. I wanted so much to have the
sweet peace reflected in her face.
Then I saw that it came from
the Christ portrayed behind her. Her face told me that she
judged with love and understanding. Suddenly, the light from the
window in the painting seemed to flow into me. I felt the most
tremendous weight lifting from my heart. Tears filled my eyes as
my anger and resentment drained away.
A guard approached
and handed me a tissue. "It's a beautiful painting, miss, isn't it?"
he asked.
I smiled back at him, unable to reply.
You may read The National Gallery's description of the painting by clicking
here
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