Dear Reader:

I am so glad I decided to go back and re-read Louise Penny’s detective series…because I realize now I was reading the books so quickly the first time around…in my eagerness to discover “who dunnit” that I missed many subtle, poignant and powerful spiritual messages held within the pages…far more important than the capture of the culprit.

I don’t want to give anything away…but there is a beautiful spiritual side line story that becomes the benchmark of courage and hope for Chief Inspector Armand Gamache…a personal story that he carries with him, as a shield,  through a series of political corruptions that explode around him…dragging him down into a dark abyss of betrayal by close friends, jealousy, and power run amuck.

In book two…the first hint that Chief Inspector Gamache did something morally courageous comes to light…but we only get hints of what is to come. He finds himself in a situation where his moral compass must decide whether to overlook injustice at its worst and cover up his knowledge of mis-doings from his own police force and close friends or expose it to the public at large.

Before the situation explodes Gamache finds himself in an isolated fishing village finishing up an earlier case. In this rocky barren plot of land Gamache finds beauty in the lichen on the rocks and almost invisible purple flowers. He doesn’t find God there…but in a diner.

He gathers his courage to tell a Three Pines resident this most personal story:

The friend immediately asks Gamache back…”What was God eating?” 

“Lemon meringue pie” Gamache replies with a twinkle in his eyes.

“He was dressed like a fisherman…but He looked across the room at me with such tenderness, such love, I was staggered.”

The “fisherman” then finished his pie and turned to the wall…rubbing something on it and then He “turned back to me with the most radiant smile I’ve ever seen. I was filled with joy.”

Before the fisherman left he looked back at Gamache, one last time, with a warm and comforting smile…as if to say he understood and it would be alright.

As soon as he left Gamache rushed over and wrote the four simple lines in his notebook that the fisherman had written on the wall. He knew then, immediately what his soul had been trying to tell him…that he had to do what was morally right…and let the consequences fall where they may. Because he had everything…

The four lines were:

“Where there is love, there is courage

Where there is courage, there is peace

Where there is peace, there is God.

And when you have God, you have everything.”

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Throughout the series…other characters see God…as a road worker carrying a sign or a homeless woman carrying a life-altering secret…God appears in the most mundane but extraordinary circumstances simultaneously.

There is no doubt in my mind…that my dolphin, was God revealed in one of His most beautiful creations that day back in 2008 (off the jetties at Edisto)  following my initial breast cancer diagnosis. And the lines (the mental impressions) I still remember from that foggy fall morning, the sighting of the dolphin jumping above me sitting on the jetties, are:

It’s going to be alright

Everything is just as it should be

You are a part of the universe

Go live your life

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Now how about you? Have you ever experienced a moment, an incident so mundane, yet so powerfully memorable, where you knew or at least suspected that You met God…that you were on Holy ground…that our Creator was as real as the Velveteen Rabbit…because to be real is to be loved?

From little children on…aren’t we taught that God is love…that the words God and Love are synonyms. So if we reject the notion of God…aren’t we declaring that we don’t believe love exists either? I, for one, wouldn’t want to live in a world without love…without God.

I finally remembered a popular song from a few years back that addressed the topic of seeing God all around us…including everyday people….do you remember it? It was called “What if God was One of Us?” by Joan Osborne.

If God had a name what would it be?
And would you call it to his face?
If you were faced with Him in all His glory
What would you ask if you had just one question?

And yeah, yeah, God is great
Yeah, yeah, God is good
And yeah, yeah, yeah-yeah-yeah

What if God was one of us?
Just a slob like one of us
Just a stranger on the bus
Tryin’ to make his way home?

*I love the Gregorian (Masters of Chant) version of this song

Gregorian – One of Us – YouTube

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So until tomorrow…I never see a dolphin without remembering that sacred moment in my life almost ten years ago…and now I will never eat a piece of lemon meringue pie without thinking of God, also…and the fictional Chief Inspector Armand Gamache.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*Anne texted me yesterday…and said that the stuffed monkey I gave Nala as a baby…is still her favorite toy. I replied back…that from the monkey’s point of view…the photo’s title should read:

“Love Hurts”