My neighbor is over the LDS Church’s Motion Picture Studio (hereafter referred to as “MPS”). They are going to be making a film on the life of Christ next year...and what with travel costs (location shooting is so expensive!) and things like terrorist bombings and such, they thought that it might be easier to bring Jerusalem here rather than going there…um…so to speak.
It wasn’t just me going on the tour, there were a group of us from the ‘hood, and we carpooled the 35+ miles to the site. (By the way, you won’t be able to find it, even if I told you kind of where it is…so don’t bother. Besides there’s a really nice guy in a security booth that probably wouldn’t be so nice if you showed up unannounced. Just sayin’…)
Now if you’ve ever been on a movie set (and you’re at all like me) you’re always struck by how real everything looks. (They actually try hard to get it that way.) And it’s always been kind of magical for me to tour back lots and studios. On this particular set they’re going for more of an “aged and distressed look” if you know what I mean. After all, the city was at least a thousand years old when Jesus was there…so a lot of it looked pretty…well, ancient.
David told us how they construct the stones for the walls and steps… they build them out of STYROFOAM. Seriously! They framed them, of course, but basically these enormous, huge stone walls are the same stuff the last shipment from whatever catalog place you ordered with came packed in. Polystyrene foam. Who knew?? I mean, they look massive and pretty danged indestructible. But looks can, as we all know, be deceiving.
Yesterday at church someone noted a lady whose ankle was wrapped in an ace bandage. (She was on the tour…and we walked a lot. I’m surprised both of my ankles (and knees) weren’t wrapped, too!) Then that person made the comment that there were probably a lot of “wrapped ankles” in the classroom…but we couldn’t see them. And it’s true…we all try to carry on, wearing the best face we can, hiding our troubles and challenges as much as possible.
But we all have them.
I was sitting, yesterday, by my neighbor (who I’ve written about before) and we were commiserating in that same class. I found out some new challenges she’s going through, she listened to mine. And then, fortunately, we made each other laugh…and somehow shared laughter makes the burdens a bit lighter.
We might be Styrofoam underneath (squooshy and squashable and vulnerable), but we’re framed and supported by other people in our lives – our families, our friends and neighbors, and most of all, by God. He does his best to buoy us up, if we let Him. That support keeps the walls from falling down.
We might sometimes look indestructible on the surface, but knowing just how utterly and completely destructible I really am, I’m grateful for all those moments of support and commiseration that helps keep my walls from totally going all Jericho on me.
MAJOR DISCLAIMER: By the way, this is NOT an actual picture from the tour. There were subtle implied threats against posting any pics on-line…they wouldn’t kill me, or anything. But I would like to keep on good terms with my neighbor…and not get kicked out of the Church! This is just to illustrate the concept, savvy?
Thanks for posting this, Nedra. I totally agree with you--it's amazing when you become aware of everything your friends are going through, even when they have a "perfect" facade. I love the line from the hymn that says, "In the quiet heart is hidden sorrow that the eye can't see." Says it beautifully.
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