Tuesday, January 02, 2007

2007: A Space Oddity

I don't put a lot of stock in New Years. Last year I was in bed by 11 on New Year's Eve. This year I managed to make it to 12:30 because I started watching "Ordinary People" at 10. What a great movie. I read the book by Judith Guest this Christmas and it was excellent. The movie actually portrays it well though. It won an Oscar actually.

Anyway, that's not really what I wanted to talk about. I was just thinking about new years and all the hype and nostalgia, hope and forecasting. I don't really have anything to add to all that. Its just another day in my books. It usually takes me until February to remember what year to put on my cheques.

However, I tend to be fairly reflective on many days, and so on New Years I am reflecting a bit about the fact that as a kid there was no way I ever thought I'd see this day. I didn't think the world would make it to 2000. I was sure the Lord would return by then and it would all be over. Now I'd be surprised if he came in my lifetime. (Of course, he is most likely to come when we least expect it so what does that tell you?)

And Ordinary People has made me reflect about being real. See the movie or read the book and you'll know what I mean. How we long to have people we can be real with. But how scary it is when we are real with each other. True communion is very messy, and risky, and worth it. I am thankful this New Years that God is With Us, whether he is coming tomorrow or in a thousand years. This is very gracious and good of Him. I am also thankful that I have some friends and family who are God's nearness to me. They have for some reason or another sought and allowed true communion with me and I would not want to know who I would be today without them.

Thank God for friends who stick closer than a brother, and siblings who also manage to be friends. To you I dedicate Chesterton's pithy little poem (paraphrased), one of my all time favourites:

The sun rises on another day

Why do I deserve another?

2 comments:

Tony Tanti said...

Ordinary People is one of those 'real' movies, it's a favorite genre of mine. They are always messy and aren't always 'happy' stories, but that's life isn't it?

Anonymous said...

Yeah! Ordinary People is one of the most under-appreciated American films of the 1980's.

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