"And Mary took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance".
John 12:3.
It began in my first full year working behind a camera. I was working in the studio with a model who had travelled down from London for a few days, and I noticed she didn't seem too comfortable with the images we were creating. I asked her to take a particular pose - crossing her arms in front of her chest, and she seemed to totally disconnect, as if something had been triggered by my request. I started to ask her a second time, and her eyes flashed with trauma and pain, and in a moment, she was crying, the situation clearly causing her to recall a deep anguish.
I sat beside her, allowing her to express her trouble, and when she was ready, I asked her if she could talk about it. She told me that she couldn't create the pose I'd requested, as it caused her to remember a recent violent attack by an ex-boyfriend, who had abused her after forcing her into just such a form. I allowed her to tell her story, apologized for bringing up any painful memories, and after a coffee, we continued working together over the next few days, producing some good images in the studio and in a workshop for a group of photographers.
Almost a year later, I was holding my first ever public exhibition of my work, and who should walk in but this young lady, her face a picture of delight. In the months that had past, her life had changed - she was now studying photography, and was doing a piece for this about me and my work... The day we had met had literally changed her.
Not all stories, of course, end that well. Yesterday, the young lady I was supposed to be working with called me in tears, as she had been assaulted by someone she had cared for. Over the years, I have encountered many like her who, whilst seeking to care, to love, to inspire and to share something beautiful through art, have been abused so often by the ones that should give respect, honor and support in return for the fragrance that these souls give to the world.
It is woefully easy for us to de-fault to something less than we should be, especially when we are motivated by selfishness which is expressed in a plethora of emotions or reactions to another. It is then that we can so quickly become manipulative or outright abusive, but obtaining something of true worth requires us to take a much deeper, often harder route in our relationships - one which will care, particularly when there is cost involved.
In the verses from John, Mary's costly action came from a genuine affection for Jesus, and when we seek to do anything truly of value in life, it can only endure if we are equally motivated to give ourselves for the love of others.
In these hard pressed days, our greatest treasure is our care for one another - that is what brings genuine value, which will outlast any merely immediate forms of gain.
May we be able to give something that does not steal or crush the wonder we see in another, but encourages such wealth to flourish and shine brightly in this barbed and broken world.
