Marley and Life

In the movie Marley and Me, husband and wife John and Jenny have “the world’s worst dog”, and they do ordinary things in a beautifully unordinary way.In the end it’s not so much about what the dog Marley does,as it is about what happens with Marley in the midst.It’s Marley who makes you cry at the end,but it’s who Marley leaves behind that make the movie worthwhile.

  

Jenny(Jennifer Aniston) and John(Owen Wilson) don’t cut their marriage short,they don’t seek an artificial end to their troubles;with all their energy and dreams they winsomely meet life in its face. Sebastian avoids commitment and chases the new,John and Jenny each take a deep breath and trudge through the ordinary together. Sebastian finds himself always looking wistfully around him without a story to tell. John and Jenny discover scrapbooks of unexpected celebrations. 

As Jenny said in the movie, “Life is where we are”...not where we planned on being,not where we think things are better.

So Marley and Me is about endurance and the celebration of life. About waiting with both patience and expectation;and enjoying the wait.The movie’s adventures are not without realistic sadness;but it is sadness because something did indeed come rightfully to an end. Not twisted grief over something cut short.

It is sad.Marley dies. But it is the best kind of sadness one could hope for.

And so, perhaps,it is really the end of the beginning. 

Easter Slumdog

The people who laid the clothes and branches down for Jesus in Jerusalem wanted a savior who made no one wait.They wanted it at once,and in the way they had planned.But Jesus said "I am going to build a place for you"...a place outside of this earth. Jesus talked of a kingdom of fulfillment that would by no means come immediately. So, five days after He entered Jerusalem ,He was crucified at the hands of the people.

Slumdog Millionaire is not only about the hope for something great,it is also about patience and a desire long in its fulfilling.But the main character in Slumdog is not perfect;so the movie is also about grace. Jamal wins 20 million rupees in a quiz show.But without the horrors and sorrows of the slums,the injustice,the separation,the loneliness,and torture,he never would have known the answers. In the end,all the ineffable evils of the past fit together to make something beautiful.Something that would have never been guessed. It actually ended with dancing...but first he kissed Latika's scar.

First the hope,then the perseverance,then the healing,then the celebration.

"The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces;He will remove the disgrace of His people from all the earth...let us rejoice." Latika received the scar during Jamal's bitter attempt to save her;but the scar made the final restoration even more sweet. It was Jesus' resurrection that made Thomas doubt, but with the scars came his belief and adoration.

Whoever loses his life will gain it.

If there were no slums,who would need to be a millionaire?If there were no riches,everything would be slums.

Jesus will overwhelm us,but He will be there for us to run to. He will turn our lives upside-down, but He will never burden us with more than we can bear,and nothing can separate us from Him.

His yoke is easy and His burden is light,but He requires perseverance, and faith:the substance of things hoped for.

"And so it was that when he returned,having received the kingdom,he then commanded these servants,to whom he had given the money ,to be called to him,that he might know how much every man had gained by trading.Then came the first saying,'Master,your mina has earned ten minas.And he said to him,'Well done, good servant ;because you were faithful in a very little,have authority over ten cities.' "

Happy Easter.

Science Tidbits!!!(YEY)

Here are two of the many Portuguese Man-o-War specimens we found on Santa Rosa island.

(I love the cigarette in the background) We must have had the dangerous-marine-life angel protecting us,because certainly nobody listened to my insightful warnings regarding excruciating welts and stings.If anyone had gotten hurt then the moral to that story would have been:don't eat everything you find that looks pretty,and:

Geeks are always safer.

"All you have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to you"~Gandalf

Why does Saturn have rings? Why can't penguins fly? Why does this blog exist???

Some questions cannot be answered,at least not in this life.

But as I decide what to do with the time  given to me I find an unquenchable yearning to talk and write and muse and ponder.And you know,blogs save paper,ink,and oxygen(unless you're laughing while reading).As for the name,well, it's raining outside.

This infinitesimal little smudge in the vast world wide web will be a smattering of my thoughts on various,unpredictable subjects.Who can guess what one may read.I can only hope my musings might lead to something somewhat satisfying.And don't fret over "my musings" ,I'll try to make this as fresh, poly-authored,and eclectic as I can. 

For now,enjoy the rain(or think of me enjoying it)and may "your friends be like the sun as he rises in his might"  (Judges 5:31)

peace,Elsa