Masticating Marley & Me....

LeeElla, Micah, Austin and cousin Braydon and I watched Marley & Me the other night and I really enjoyed it; even though it was a modern Old Yeller in the emotional sense. The previews played it off more like a comedy, cute dog flick...but I felt it was much more than that. Dog ownership is perfectly portrayed in this film, the good, the bad and the ugly. Marriage, raising little ones and the complexities of navigating the mid life spinning compass, is nailed as well.

Now it might be that Im a dog owner/lover, have 4 kids (none nicknamed: "Whoops") and Im almost 40; but I thought there were some deep issues being outworked in this movie. Even though some of the subject matter was for more mature audiences (marital fights, miscarriage, sorrow etc) I felt it was good for my young ones to watch, feel and think about the situations presented in the movies. I will have my older ones watch it too, especially to demystify the romanticism that is often associated with relationships and marriage in most movies.

During the movie it evoked a number of questions from the kids: "Did you ever have a miscarriage? Why did the baby die? Do dogs go to heaven? Are babies really that hard? Good stuff. Of course I held Micah in my arms during the last quarter of the movie when the real drama hits, lots of tears...but I think, tears are good. Feeling sorrow is part of life, death and loss are sufferings that we all will face. Pretending that all stories have happy endings is not being honest about the world we live within. But there is nothing better than experiencing those moments together...and even films can help us prepare for the cups we will have to drink.

I smell a whore...

I heard another voice from heaven, saying, "Come out of her, my people, so that you will not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues." "All the nations have drunk of the wine of the passion of her immorality and the kings of the earth have had sex with her and become rich by the wealth of her sensuality." She has become a dwelling place of demons and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird. (Revelations 18)

Condom wrappers, purple panties and surgical tube...strange items to find littered at the feet of a beautiful wooded grove. I guess devils and saints find such places perfect for solitude. I was reflecting on my walk through our little neighborhood forest today. In moments like these, I hear a "voice from heaven", a quiet call that is whispered in the cool breeze of the just awakened spring air. It speaks of a tragic emptiness that these unholy sacraments offer. A fleeting pleasure that tastes sweet to the tongue but ends with bitterness in the belly. A brief connection, but not of souls, only of genitals. A wild rush of chemical escape that becomes a noose around the will, not just the arm; a piercing of not only the skin but the spirit. An infusion of fire that kindles in the here and now and grows into a pyre of eternal smoke and flame. This is polluted ground that writhes and moans with twisted contortions of sensuality that lock its victims into a prison. The dirt here smells of sulfur. The gravel is pregnant with talons that prick the flesh like a double barbed hook...easily it goes in...but damned are they that try to pull it out.

"Come out of her" is a biblical sexual reference with all its potent imagery. A pleading as much as a warning, you can hear the desperation in the prophetic sigh. I feel it often walking and living among these homes, hovels and desecrated places, unholy altars to sensuality.

Man-made idols to the Great Whore.

The Fountain

For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory". -1 Corinthinans 15:53-54

LeeElla and I have been waiting to watch this film for awhile and finally found a quiet, kid-less night to enjoy it. It was a deep look at love, life, death and immortality told within 3 stories and 3 time periods and revolving around a book and cancer. It really is one of the most thought provoking films I have seen. I have pondered it a lot since seeing it. I will use the movie as a tool in teaching on sickness and disease at some point...probably within a recovery, inner healing, burying the dead context. It wonderfully highlights the struggles of facing death, embracing death and seeing death through the eyes of resurrection. It teaches some powerful truths about what to focus on when going through the valley of the shadow of death. It's an emotional film, especially if you have gone through something similar. The part where she is in the tub and cant feel her feet and the horror, the anguish, the look in her husbands face and then the beauty of the embrace and suspending the march towards death in a passionate kiss in the moment...was deeply moving. Oh that we could all suspend time and hold those we love in spite of deaths creeping long shadow...love truly triumphs...oh, death where is you sting? Only one who will rise again can truly say that with hope and surrender.

Here is another great article that deals with, what will your spouse be like when you die?
Have I nurtured my spouse's personality, or buried it?

Death of a loved one...

I officiated a funeral for the mother of a friend of mine Thursday. The elderly husband was there remembering 54 years of marriage to his wife. It was my first official funeral with all the formal stuff at the funeral home, following the hearse and graveside ceremony etc. I didn't know the woman, so I had to dig deep, read about her life and listen to the Spirit of put together a memorial service that had meaning. It's moments like these that crafting words is a gift that I enjoy. Weaving together scripture, poems, memories and prayers to gently lead people into the presence of God and to reflect on the joys and sorrows of living. I wrote this poem to capture the challenges of trying to share in a moment the beauty of a lifetime with someone. The apostle James said that all of us... “will pass away like a wild flower. For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed.” (James 1:9-11) I based my words on this scripture.

Lost in a Field of Flowers.

I stumbled on a a hidden canvas,
a field that’s only audience was heaven’s gaze.
Each step through the wild artists glen,
was scented by a thousand open faced flowers.
Their only intent seemed...to fill the air with beautiful intoxication's.
Such elaborate waste it seemed...to paint the season for such a short time.
Who casts their pearls of delights onto the open ground for birds,
wandering deer and passing clouds?
I wondered in my delight.
I plucked a flower for my journey home...delicately holding its splendor in my hand,
in hopes to hold onto the moment and to share with another.
But each step away...was one step closer to a moment when it was not, as it had been.
We can not hold the flower forever...except in our hearts...in our minds...
But in moments of quietness,
when the warm summer’s breeze stops me by the nose,
I smell that day...that moment...and I am alive again,
lost in a field of flowers.

This music video captures some of what I saw and felt:When you're gone