World Famous Detective Ponders Providence
March 22, 2010
My son is reading The Complete Sherlock Holmes, Volume One. Check out this excerpt he read to me the other day as narrated by Holmes’ trusted friend, Dr. Watson:
“The authorities are excellent at amassing facts, though they do not always use them to advantage. What a lovely thing a rose is!”
He walked past the couch to the open window and held up the drooping stalk of a moss-rose, looking down at the dainty blend of crimson and green. It was a new phase of his character to me, for I had never before seen him show any keen interest in natural objects.
“There is nothing in which deduction is so necessary as in religion,” said he, leaning with his back against the shutters. “It can be built up as an exact science by the reasoner. Our highest assurance of the goodness of Providence seems to me to rest in the flowers. All other things, our powers, our desires, our food, are all really necessary for our existence in the first instance. But this rose is an extra. Its smell and its colour are an embellishment of life, not a condition of it. It is only goodness which gives extras, and so I say again that we have much to hope from the flowers.”
Percy Phelps and his nurse looked at Holmes during this demonstration with surprise and a good deal of disappointment written upon their faces. He had fallen into a reverie, with the moss-rose between his fingers. It had lasted some minutes before the young lady broke in upon it.
I love that smack-dab in the middle of a Sherlock Holmes story, read by thousands, if not millions since the late 1800s, a fictional character takes time to meditate on the prospect of the care and goodness of God.
I can’t help but wonder how many people over the years paused, reread and thoughtfully considered the words of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the author of the detective series; it certainly made an impression on my son. I’m sure there have been readers who blew right by without taking any notice. But it’s cool to think that there could have been fans of Holmes (and fans to be) that felt inspired to learn more about God based on the example of the world’s most famous detective. I love that!
It’s a reminder to me, a person who loves surprises, that God displays the beauty of His goodness and extends invitations to seek Him out, by popping up in ways and in places beyond my expectations. Have you seen God’s goodness pop up in an unexpected way lately?
