Lesson from a Movie

A movie I saw last week has an unforgettable scene - a woman in a bikini sits by the pool of a ritzy hotel, unexpectedly without a room (and no money to get one). As the sun sets, both the sky and her lips begin to turn purple. The man who loves her is with someone else, but notices her plight. In the next scene, a waiter brings her an envelope: "This is the key to a room that's been paid for one week. It's yours." 

We should all experience such love: attentive, authentic, timely, practical. It speaks its name without saying a word. 

But of course, there is good news: we all can know that love. Okay -- it's not the romantic kind, with a man willing to risk everything for a woman. But it's better. It truly is. It is God's love.

As human beings, we are all, all of us, that woman by the pool, shivering, with the night approaching. We have no room and no way to get one. We sit there, cowardly and pale. For many of us, this situation is self-made: pride, lust, arrogance, disobedience, negligence, wrong choices. For others, the link is murkier: illness, abuse, accident, a divorce, a death. No matter. In both scenarios, we are outside, wishing, dreaming, praying, crying. We can't go inside, can't get safe and warm. Such is the condition of men and women on earth.

But God. He sees. He notices. He has resources.  

And who knows, your envelope may be on its way. And with more than a 1-week solution.