thought provoking

I watched Eat Pray Love with my sisters Thursday night.

This may not seem like a big deal to you, but getting my sisters together is a much harder ordeal than one would expect. First of all, my family does not understand the meaning of “on time.” What is that? We have coined the word “late” and truly made it our own. With this in mind, I found a 4:55 showing, allowing all four of us to finish the important parts of our day, take a break for a movie, and go back to life. Plenty of Time.

[Ok, as every writer knows, when you have a “first of all,” a “secondly” always follows. So, here’s my “secondly."]

There’s another thing you should know about my family: we lack a sense of direction. We get lost everywhere we go. Our family vacations consist of finding the right road and getting on that road. That process continues until our destination point. That sounds like a typical road trip, right? Sure, if you go on several different roads before you find that road. This “lostness” isn’t just in my parents; no, it has trickled down to their five children. I get lost at least once a month. If I am not completely familiar with an area—and by completely familiar I mean lived in, studied a map of, and gotten lost at least twice—I will get lost in it. I was once lost in a town of 500 people with only two paved roads. Yes, it’s that bad. So, with this in mind, you should not be surprised to find out that one of my sisters got lost on her way to meet us (one out of four isn’t bad), and of course, she did what all of us do: she tried to fix it on her own. Alas, she could not. She called my mom, who tried to help but could not due to their mutual frustration; she called me, and I had no clue (no surprise there); and finally, she called my older sister who helped her make it to the theatre.

Now that you have the background, I’ll continue with my story:

I was sitting in the parking lot of the movie theatre at 4:45. Yes, I was on time, and yes, that rarely happens. What you don’t know that I am not about to tell you is that two hours before, I was lost…but only momentarily. I quickly found the road that said West instead of East (Never Eat Sour Watermelon, right?). At 5:15, 20 minutes after the movie had started (and 5 minutes after the previews had ended), I received a call from my older sister saying that perhaps we should find another time to watch the movie. Duh.

That’s enough torture for you reading this and for me reliving this.

We get to the 6:30 showing of the movie with our CVS snacks hidden safely in our overstuffed purses. By the way, I am so thankful for the people who work at the theatre and agree that theatre snacks are too expensive and therefore allow my three sisters and I to sneak our cheap chips, candy and drinks into the theatre. Gracias.

Okay, the main reason that I really wanted to watch this movie is because of James Franco. I know, I know, he’s not even a main character. But, he was on one of the previews, which was enough for me because my younger sister and I have an actor-crush on him. He is charming and oh-so-attractive. We own Tristan and Isolde and Flyboys, and have been searching for Annapolis. We loooooove our James Franco. mmhmmmm. :)

So anyway, I am surrounded by the three girls that I love the very most, with a water, a popcorn and my peanut butter m&ms, watching a movie about who-knows-what with random scenes of a man who is easy on the eyes. I am a happy camper.

Movie starts.

I like movies that make me think. I liked Salt, and I have always liked The Illusionist and The Prestige, movies that make me want to figure out the ending. However, I haven’t watched many movies that made me think the way Eat Pray Love made me think.

[No, no, this is not a movie critique. This is just babble. Enjoy or click the x. I’m cool with either, just don’t judge yet.]

I enjoy life. I love living and wouldn’t trade it for anything. I do not use my time wisely in many people’s eyes, but I do what I love. I read. I eat. I write. I think. I travel. I sit. I cook. (that’s new.) I do whatever I want to do, especially since I’m on summer break. I fill my days with whatever will satisfy me. Sound selfish? Maybe so. But at this point in my life, I feel like I need to be selfish. I need to look inward and see what pieces of me need to stay and what need to go, which is what Julia Roberts does in Eat Pray Love…she just waited a long time to do it.

[Transitions are not my best, so just follow me.]

There was a quote in the movie that I really liked: “God dwells within you, as you.”

In the movie, Liz (Roberts’s character) travels to India to visit a guru. I honestly didn’t understand half the stuff that was going on, but what I did understand was that she was looking for a balance to her life, looking for something that would sustain her. I don’t know if the God she was talking about is the same God that I love, but I took the quote and ran with it, made it my own.

[Here’s where the two tie together.]

In my enjoyment of life, God’s always with me. I know that sounds corney or hokey or whatever, but for real: He’s hanging out in my heart having a constant convo with me, so when I look inward to see what needs to stay and go, I often ask Him. I mean, He’s the one hanging out with all the clutter in my heart, and (I’m gona run with this analogy) I want to make it comfortable for Him. So, when it’s time for some house-cleaning, I ask Him what needs to go. I’ve been getting rid of a lot of things over the past three months of summer. I’ve been asking God a lot of questions, and I haven’t always gotten the answers that I wanted, but God’s been faithful to hang with the clutter in my heart, so I listen.

God dwells within me, as me.

I call myself a Christian. I say I want to do things that Christ did. Do I always? No, but I’m trying. I want to be a good example of who God is. So, for me, this quote goes like this: God chills in my heart, and the longer He’s there the more clutter I trash. The more clutter I trash, the more comfortable He becomes, making His mark on my heart. The more of Him I have in my heart, the more I become like Him. Less of me=more of Him, which is the essence of John 3:30—“He must become greater, I must become less.”

I want this end result. I want God to dwell within me, as me. No, I’m not God’s puppet; I have my own feelings and thoughts, and I act accordingly. But if my feelings and thoughts were more like His…what a life I could live…

A thinker, for sure. I hope that caused you to think, and I hope you could follow along. I just had to sort this all out of my head…which is what a blog’s for, right? :)