I Want To Be Like Agatha Christie
A few years ago my Kid Lit Book Club decided to read an Agatha Christie murder mystery. I realize you may wonder why we were reading one of her books because it most certainly is not a piece of children’s literature! But each year we like to read one adult novel that provides a more complex discussion than our usual child-oriented selections produce.
Agatha Christie was an English writer who published 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections in her lifetime. Guinness World Records list her as the best-selling fiction writer of all time. She was born in September of 1890, died in January 1976, and lived through both World Wars.
The novel we chose was And Then There Were None, one of the highest-selling books of all time! I don’t know why I had never read one of her novels before and was not prepared for the deep puzzle solving that was required to get through it! I wondered what kind of mind must a person have to figure out such an intricate plot and conjure up a plan for killing all of those people in such gruesome ways? I certainly learned a few things!
But we did have a wonderful discussion along with a darling cake provided by our host of the evening. (If you’ve read the book, you will understand the cake.) Kudos to my friend, a most compelling baker, and our host that evening, Gwen Kline. it stand out
So why do I write about Agatha Christie?
Well, last week I realized I want to be like her.
No, I don’t want to be a prolific well-known author of many published books, although that would be nice.
No, it is because recently my husband and I watched a special on Iowa Public TV about her life. Who was this woman who knew more ways to murder someone than the number of clouds in the sky? What was she like?
I learned many things about Agatha’s life but I find myself thinking about one thing that was said about her and I feel compelled to share it with you.
In the film, Agatha’s grandson was talking while a photo shot up of him standing beside his NeeMa, as he called her. He spoke some words that caught my attention. He said, and I must paraphrase because my memory isn’t that precise, No one ever listened to me like my NeeMa. Her bright eyes looked deeply into mine and I felt like I could tell her anything.
I suppose I was especially tuned in to the word “listen” because I have been reading a book, Spiritual Conversations with Children, by Lacy Finn Borgo, a book for spiritual directors regarding work with children. Borgo writes, “When children have a listening companion who hears, acknowledges, and encourages their early experiences with God, it creates a spiritual footprint that will shape the way a child engages with God, others, and themselves.”
I don’t know if Matthew Prichard’s NeeMa listened to his wondering thoughts about God, but I would guess that maybe she did. And I want to be that kind of listening companion for those I love.
I’ve learned that a good listener is quiet and fixes her eyes on the person talking. A good listener waits and asks good questions, but those questions do not push or manipulate. They rise out of a genuine desire to let the speaker express herself by not telling her how to feel or what to feel and by not acting shocked, disinterested, or preachy. We can practice listening well in every conversation we have with people around us.
Another way we can practice being a listener is by being silent with God. Instead of only talking or asking for things from him, we can sit quietly and rest with him. With coffee in hand and with a candle flame fluttering close by, we can invite him to join us, to sit quietly, and enjoy being together. I have a prayer list and I ask God for things, but not at first. Our pastor always encourages us to seek God’s face before seeking his hand. I love this! It’s not easy to be quiet or to wait for him because there is so much to say! But Psalm 62:1 leads us to remember: “Truly my soul finds rest in God alone.” Psalm 46:10 reminds us to “Be still and know that I am God.” And I am eagerly learning the joy of stopping, the wisdom of not trying to boss God around, the delight of finding peace in “resting securely” (abiding) in him, my Bible open.
And of course, God is the ultimate listener! Psalm 34:15 reminds us that “The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, and his ears are attentive to their cry.” He wants us to tell him everything that is on our minds. He wants us to be able to report, like Agatha Christie’s grandson, “No one ever listened to me like my Father God. I felt I could tell him anything."
I don’t have the intelligence or writing ability of Agatha Christie. She was totally unique. And I am certainly not filled with all the wisdom of God. But I do hope to share this one quality with both of them. I want to look my children and grandchildren clearly in the eye and wait for them to speak, assuring them that they can tell me anything in the world, and I’ll listen well and love them forever.