magoriam's parting words

i was watching this really cool movie with the kids. "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium" is a movie about a magical toy store, with Dustin Hoffman playing this HIGHLY eccentric character who claims to be over 200 years old and is wanting to pass along his magical store to his faithful store employee. they have this precious father/daughter like relationship and it is REALLY sweet. but what he says to her in the end of the movie is a quote that i will never forget to remember...... he holds her face tenderly in his hands and says,

"LIFE is an OCCASION, RISE TO IT."

i absolutely LOVE this quote. and i am in the mood to pick it apart and try and relate it to my life. here goes it.

if we think of our lives as an occasion we must think about what an "occasion" is.

Webster says an OCCASION is an event that occurs at a critical time.

So, each of our lives are occurring at a critical time. indispensable and vital.

Webster says the definition of CRITICAL in this sense is a turning point or a specially important juncture. it also has another meaning that i found interesting. it says that critical is CRUCIAL. and it uses it in the sentence "critical [crucial] to the operation of a machine.

All of our lives, right now i am thinking of my own life as part of God's "machine" if you will allow. i am a critical part of it because he has every moment predetermined. He has given me life THROUGH his SON. this occasion of life for me to RISE to.

don't need Webster...to RISE to lift up to look up, to climb higher, to be lifted higher. to move above. RISING to it is only possible through the Lord. we see through the bible how Jesus told the paralysed man to rise, take his mat and walk (mark 2:9-11). i think of the song that says, "ARISE MY SOUL ARISE!" of course there is the most important fact is that Christ ROSE from the dead and so we can do the same when we meet death. we will rise and be with JESUS. IF and only IF we have accepted the gift of salvation and asked the Lord JESUS to come into our hearts.

might seem silly to pick apart a quote from a movie. but when i think about rising to life's occasion it is encouraging because God has never promised us pain free lives but he wants us to face those trials "rising" to the occasion of them. i do not feel alone. only through Christ do i rise. and things do not seem near as scary.