Find Peace in "The Madding Crowd"

I have recently been thinking on the phrase "Far from the madding crowd" I have heard that saying for many years, and did some research of the origin of the phrase. I learned that it was the title of a novel published in 1874.

Far from the Madding Crowd offers in ample measure the details of English rural life and is centered around the heroine Bathsheba and her search for love and marriage. Hardy took the title from Thomas Gray's poem Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard (1751):

Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife

Their sober wishes never learn'd to stray;

Along the cool sequester'd vale of life

They kept the noiseless tenor of their way.

"Madding" means "frenzied" here. The title may be ironic: the five main characters - Bathsheba, Troy, Boldwood, Oak, and Fanny Robin - are all passionate beings who find the "vale of life" neither quiet nor cool.

The story is a classic tale of human struggle and troubled relationships so common in our world.. The poem the title was taken from suggests a quiet vale, a seeming place of peace and tranquility far away from the disturbing noises and commotion of a crowd of people. However, one can see by following the plot line of the story that the heart and the character of the heroes involved were faulty, and the quiet place of peace was never found. The heroine of the love story confessed to an independent nature which was troubled and needed taming. It saddens the heart to read of her journey through the tragedies of passions, betrayals, and death.

Tragic, but true life for multitudes of people! Relationships which began with great promise for love and security brought heartache and pain. We live our lives then seeking that place to run to and hide from the hurt. Far from the madding crowd! We find that the quiet place of peace and solitude we search for is nowhere to be found, for we take the inner man with us wherever we go.

Song "The Great Pretender" by The Platters

When we are forced to live as pretenders we suffer the effects of bottled up emotions which play themselves out as stress and weariness. For many years, my own life experience followed that pattern. My mindset was "deliver me from people who cause me strife!" Just as so many others, I was lost in a sad sea of my own emotions.

Ecc.2:2-11

"I said in mine heart, Go to now, I will prove thee with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also is vanity. I said of laughter, It is mad: and of mirth, What doeth it? I sought in mine heart to give myself unto wine, yet acquainting mine heart with wisdom; and to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was that good for the sons of men, which they should do under the heaven all the days of their life. I made me great works; I builded me houses; I planted me vineyards: I made me gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of all kind of fruits: I made me pools of water, to water therewith the wood that bringeth forth trees: I got me servants and maidens, and had servants born in my house; also I had great possessions of great and small cattle above all that were in Jerusalem before me: I gathered me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces: I gat me men singers and women singers, and the delights of the sons of men, as musical instruments, and that of all sorts. So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem: also my wisdom remained with me. And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labour: and this was my portion of all my labour. Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun."

It is a sad but true life fact that a life of independence from God's saving grace will cause wounded people of the world to isolate themselves and seek solitude from others in order to escape from the pain and stress. We become experts at hiding inside ourselves and pretending all is well. However, God did not create us to live with those kinds of failures. We were all created for the sharing of love and kindness. He truly desires that our lives be written with love and filled with stories of success and happy endings. God's time honored remedy for failed relationships is forgiveness. It is a spiritual law which rules all the world. To break this law will rob us of the ability to maintain joy and happiness.

Humanity is in desperate need of a savior! We can learn a new life outlook by the renewing of the inner man. We who are lost in pain and sadness can be found! Through the amazing grace of God through the Lord Jesus Christ our relationships can become sources of peace and pleasure in the midst of "madding crowds."

John 16:33

These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

The solution to the hurt of society can be found in a giving up of the self centered mind and lifestyle we have all been conditioned to believe is the right way. It is possible to un-learn and to re-learn. May the Lord speak to your heart as you read and hope be born for the new and right way of loving and living!

Let not your heart be troubled!