Ever since I was young, I've loved watching movies. I loved the ability to slip into someone else's world and live life vicariously through them.
I Laughed...
I Cried...
I Gasped...
I Awed..
I Sighed....
At times I even Screamed.
I'm certain I experienced every emotion possible through the television. As I watched, I imagined all the things I was going to do and be when I grew up. I had my life perfectly planned out. My plan was almost as perfect as the movies I watched, right down to the perfect script with a perfect ending, all neatly tied up in a bow and delivered flawlessly to anyone viewing my personal movie in real time.
Fast forward 20 years later....
A husband, five children, and one crazy life, a life nothing like that perfect movie I had pictured in my head as a child.
Life is messy. It is unscripted and uncut. There are no retakes and there is no stopping. It is real and raw and in your face tough sometimes. Everything I experience is heightened. The pain is fresher, the sorrow is deeper, the trials are harder, and the loss is sometimes unbearable. Sometimes I can't see the Happily Ever After and I fail to recognize the hero woven into the story line.
Life is nothing at all like the movies, where you go for 2 hours and come out happy, fulfilled and full of fresh one-line witticisms that you can use at your next social gathering. Life happens on the fly and you have to be ready for it. There is no guarantee when the end will come, or what genre you're about to experience, whether it's romance, comedy, adventure, drama, or horror. Sometimes I cry myself to sleep at night and other times, I laugh myself silly.
I Laugh...
I Cry...
I Gasp...
I Awe...
I Sigh...
At times I even Scream...
The beauty about it all is that because life is so different from the movies, every emotion is felt more deeply, more sincerely, more profoundly and more completely. Everything is real and fresh and raw and deep and full of vibrant color. It is nothing like the movies because it is so much better.
I may not have the perfectly scripted life, and I am still not certain of the perfectly orchestrated ending, but God is. All I have to do is embrace the beauty in the life God has given me and be grateful it is nothing like the movies.
