“Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.” Proverbs 13:12
We had our Granddaughter over this weekend, which is an occasional occurrence when her parents go out of town. Though it only happens a few times a year, the 3 of us have developed a kind of ritual. First thing on Friday night SHE decided where she wanted to go for dinner. When we got home, it was time to pick a movie. I didn’t realize how low our standards were!!!
It was Gema who said, have you ever seen “Teen Beach?” Apparently she had and, fancying herself as a dancer, she liked it enough to watch it again (OH GOODY!). I was going along for the ride because I didn’t have any suggestion of my own. When the opening scene started with singing and dancing on a beach, I felt myself being sucked into the vortex of meaningless entertainment!
I like 50’s music and musicals enough to be drawn into the story. But describing the movie as ‘hokey’ would be an understatement. It was brainless and cute, entertaining and nonsensical, cheesy and nutty at the same time. The last movie scene ended, as it had begun, with a dance number on the beach! After the credits rolled, Disney + automatically rolled right on into…you guessed it…’Teen Beach 2.’ Katie & Gema were ecstatic as plans were made to watch IT on Saturday night!
As we did things on Saturday, “Tonight it’s Teen Beach 2,” kept coming up. In a kind of weird way, I started looking forward to it! I didn’t know how much, until they told me that “Teen Beach 3” would be watched on Sunday Afternoon! My heart didn’t flutter, but SOMETHING registered! Getting home first on Sunday, I was asked to find the movie and have it ‘ready to go’ when they got home. Little did I know!
Desire, mood and attitude have a LOT to do with what I look forward to. When something I really love is hovering on the horizon, I find life easier to navigate even ‘rough’ seas. Long patches of ‘not so much’ can make me despondent and grumpy. Katie doesn’t like grumpy and neither does Jesus! They BOTH remind me over and over again that I am to be JOYFUL! And that for my joy to last, it cannot be based on silly nonsense. I must look to things that really matter.
As I surfed the TV, my heart began to flutter. It turns out, there IS NO ‘Teen Beach 3’ movie! They never made one…but MIGHT!!!! I became confused because I couldn’t decide if the single tear falling down my cheek was from joy or disappointment! So I thanked God, wrote a note to them and then took a nap! Sorting my feelings will just have to wait for another day!
So…….what are YOU looking forward to?? REALLY!!!
