Yikes! That was depressing!

I know I have been overwhelmed and busy lately. I know I have felt tired lately from everything. I just didn't realize how incredibly depressing I sounded until I read my last post! So sorry about the melancholy writing. Next time, feel free to tell me to get a grip! Hopefully I didn't depress you all away from my blog!

So, here's what's on my mind lately. The last three movies I have seen in the last month are...
1. Beverly Hills Chihuahua
2. High School Musical 3
3. The Secret Life of Bees

I believe they all have something in common. What, you might ask, does a movie about a dog, a musical about teenagers and a coming of age movie have in common?

They all speak to our deepest need in life which is to be loved. Have you seen these movies? And let me just clarify...I have kids. I didn't pick the first two movies. (Although if truth be told I did not mind at all going to see HSM3 and in fact will probably take the kids to see it again) I also found the Beverly Hills Chihuahua surprisingly tolerable. But as I was watching all the movies I couldn't help but think about the message and how it comes across to us. Doesn't everyone want to be loved? And don't we all on some level, whether we admit it or not, want to experience some amazing relationship here on the earth? To be loved completely and accepted unconditionally. To know and be known. To matter to someone. OK, maybe I am being a little dramatic, I think you get the point.

Take Lilly from The Secret Life of Bees. She's a 14 year old girl who through some traumatic circumstances finds herself growing up without her mom and being raised by a drunk and abusive father. They live in the South, it's the early 60's and Lilly runs away with her housekeeper. They end up at a home where the sisters who live there sell honey and Lilly thinks somehow they are connected to her mom. Early on she makes the comment how, she would give anything to be loved. At one point she talks about the void left in her heart by her mom. Basically, she just wants to be loved and feel accepted. (I'm not going to review the movie here, but let me say, I loved it. I'd like to see it again.)

Then there's Troy and Gabriella in HSM3. In love and in high school. Trying to figure out what the future holds. Remember back to your days in HS. It was pretty much the same...sports, good grades, wanting to be in love, wishing for the future, etc.

I guess what I am saying is this, everyone has the need to be loved and the only one who can love us completely is God. Anyone else and anything else just doesn't cut it and never will. It's not supposed to. And if you are anything like me, I am learning this ever so slowly. I find in my own life I usually surrender to God's all enveloping love as a last resort thinking it can not be enough, there must be more or something else.

It is enough, though.

Here's the bottom line. People fail. They disappoint. They hurt us and even wound us deeply. But the truth is they were only meant to be a guide for us. Granted, some have done a much better job at guiding us towards the only one who can completely satisfy than others, but people were never intended to be our all in all. More like the icing on the cake. The extra, the over the top after we are already satisfied. And after the dust settles, at some point we have to take others "off the hook" of unrealistic expectations, unmet needs, etc and see others for who they are...broken individuals like us on the same road to redemption, who are in our lives to teach us lessons about God's love, not to replace the love that only God can give. Once we release others from this impossible task, we are free. Free to see others for who they are and what they have to show us.

Am I saying the movies are wrong? Absolutely not. They're entertainment. They tell stories. They teach life lessons. I just want to keep in my mind that the solutions they offer may not be the right answer and more than likely will never offer me the only thing that can completely satisfy, and that's God. What about you? Do you think this is true? Do you find yourself, like me, searching at times for that next thing that may somehow complete you? Have you found anything that satisfies like Jesus? Do you think He is enough? I would love to discuss this more and hope I am not the only one who struggles with this!

Take care,
Julie

PS...have any of you seen the preview for LOST?! I am so excited and cannot wait for January to come! Yippee!

PSS...Thanks for coming by my blog and always leaving such kind comments for me. It really means alot. :)