We watched a movie last night on Netflix called 'Holiday in the Wild'. It was a good movie, staring Rob Lowe. It was a romance movie. It starts out that the only child, a son, is heading off to college. Once he leaves the apartment, the wife turns to the husband and commented something about the 'empty nest' . She suggests they do a 'second honeymoon' and she had made reservations in Africa for them. To which the husband responds by walking over to the side, picks up a briefcase and a suitcase and tells his wife he no longer loves her - and is leaving her. And walks out.
The wife goes on to Africa and is doing a safari when they discover a baby elephant whose mother had been killed for her tusks. The baby was dehydrated. Come to find out, the wife was a veterinarian but hadn't practiced in years. She fell in love with this baby elephant and... I won't spoil the story in case you want to watch it.
But there was this one part in which she went back to New York and sitting over dinner with her estranged husband, having a nice conversation, he notices that she seems totally different. She was happy, and was sharing all about what she had been doing. He smiled, and asked her if she met someone while in Africa.
She responded, "yes, I met me."
I laid in bed for a long time last night thinking about that statement. She had found herself - by being herself. She found her passion, her joy, once again.
I won't tell you the rest of the story, but it is a nice story and we both enjoyed watching it.
Sometimes I wonder, like the woman in this movie, if I will ever meet 'me'. Will passion within me for something I believe in raise its head and breathe fresh life into me? Or is this all there is? Day in, and day out, same o same o.
Do you ever feel like you are in a routine? Get up, turn on the computer, work, turn off the computer, have dinner, watch TV, go to bed..... and tomorrow do the same thing? Rarely is anything changed in it? Has the passion you had once within you to conquer the world or to make a differencein someone's life, or in the world, and it just didn't happen? Has your joy escaped you?
And yet, as I laid there last night and realized once again the heaviness upon my heart of the lack of joy and passion in my life, that it doesn't have to be that way. This is what happens when we let life take over. When we settle into the routine of doing nothing because it causes too much conflict when you want to do something different.
I am reminded from the movie The War Room, one of my very favorite movies of all time, when the wife tells the devil he cannot have her house, he cannot have her family, not her husband, nor her child, nor can he have her. That her joy does not come from the devil and from what she has, but from Jesus. Her joy is found in Jesus. And Jesus is Lord of that house, so get out and stay out!
Ok, I paraphrased it but the same meaning is there. If you haven't watched that movie, please do. It gives you a lot to think about. I wonder if I can get hubby to watch it again tonight... if not, while he's watching football I can watch it on my prime video. That movie encourages me, and reminds me not to give in to 'feelings' of being lost, of not knowing who I am. Yes, I get there, just like you do.
But our joy and our passion does not come from what we have, what we own. Our joy and passion is not based on who is in our lives, but in WHO we bow down and worship. Jesus is the only One who can rescue us from ourselves, from our attitudes, from what we have become.
Jesus can rescue us and we will 'meet ourselves' when we give everything we own and everything we have to Him. When we allow Him to take over our lives and change us. When we are willing to let go, He is willing to give. I often have to remind myself of that when I get into the 'lost' stage. Sometimes life in general will pull you down. Get out of the pit and look up; Jesus is waiting to help you 'meet you'.
Psalm 119:1-2 (TPT) "You're only truly happy when you walk in total integrity, walking in the light of God's Word. What joy overwhelms everyone who keeps the ways of God, those who seek him as their heart's passion!
Psalm 104:25 (TPT) ...................But I will keep on praising you my Lord, with all that is within me. My joyous blissful shouts of Hallelujah are all because of you!
Our joy comes only from Jesus. Have you met yourself yet? Have you met Jesus?
Blessings!
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