Tuesday, August 17, 2010

I Love Quotes.

The other day, I found myself watching Sister Act (and Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit). Despite the fact that I watched both of these movies a mere 3 months ago, I couldn't help but want to watch them again. If you've never watched them, you should. They're not spectacular movies, but I find myself drawn to that type of innocent, musical, uplifting humor.

One line caught my attention in the second movie (okay, like 400 lines caught my attention, but this one had meaning): "If you wanna be somebody, if you wanna go somewhere, you better wake up and pay attention." How true. In today's world, you better hit the ground running, or you're more than likely going to get run over. But that's not what I found interesting. There's something a little deeper there, at least I think.

God is a reality in this world. Whether or not you want to admit it, He's there, and He'd love for us to acknowledge that. The line, quoted above, seemed to me like more of a calling. "If you wanna be somebody, if you wanna go somewhere, you better wake up and pay attention." We're all called to be saints--holy men and women of God. If we want to end up sharing in the eternal life promised us by God, then perhaps we should step up and pay attention to what shelf we placed God on. Perhaps you should consider this: God's the bookshelf, not something to be placed on it.

Today I watched Letters to God. The movie was pretty predictably cheesy and cliche (How do you make this thing do accents?). But overall, the meaning was there. I could talk about the movie, but again I'd like to highlight a quote that I heard in (of all things) the previews. It said: "God doesn't expect you to be successful, just faithful."

Again, how true. We're quite obsessed with the perception of success in our lives--more specifically, others' perception of our success in our lives. But the ultimate test of our life is not how much money we earned or whether or not we've gotten some kick-ass job that will make everyone else envious. While I find even myself thinking about what my monetary situation will be like after school, I remind myself that God doesn't call everyone to that million-dollar profession. During my car ride to Ohio, I was talking to my cousin about what she would like to do for a living. She's changed majors (who hasn't?), and she's being pressured to choose the money-making job over what she thinks might otherwise make her happy. What a shame. Nevertheless, it's a pressure we all face. It's a real disappointment that we cannot put aside our concerns about money and success and think about what really matters: our faith. Try not being successful if you've followed Christ throughout your whole life. While society might not consider your life a success, I guarantee, you'll end up the victor.

My brother and I will be driving to Tulsa, Oklahoma tomorrow for the wake of Andrew Dever. Please pray for our safe travels (it's a 7-hour drive and we'll be returning after spending only a couple of hours in Tulsa). Pray also for Andrew and his family in these difficult times. Letters to God was successful in provoking several strong emotions within me: one of which is how extremely difficult it must be to watch your child suffer or die. We must only rely on God for comfort.

No comments:

Post a Comment