“45 years had passed since they had said their last, sad good-byes. Lives - full, meaningful, wonderful lives - had been lived during those years. There were no regrets. The timing back then had just been wrong; it was simply not to be. And yet, there were still the memories, still the occasional, “What if’s?”
And now, 45 years later, picture them standing next to each other on the sidewalk, but they don’t realize it. Drawn, as if by fate, to the same place at the same time. Yet, their attention is directed, not toward each other, but toward the street, and the sights and the sounds and the parade passing there. A perfect season, the greatest season in history is being celebrated. But what will happen to them when the cheering ends?”
That sounds like the set-up for another Hallmark Christmas movie, doesn’t it?
You’d watch this movie, wouldn’t you?
Ok, I realize I may not be speaking to the hearts of everybody here. But, if you are into Hallmark Christmas movies, you’d watch this one, right?
Here’s the thing. This describes what actually happened to me at The National Championship Parade in Baton Rouge on Saturday – well, everything except for the long-lost love part of the story. There, in the massive crowd, without realizing it, I was standing directly behind a fellow high school alum, a girl from my graduating class. Eventually, she recognized my sister [2 years ahead of us in high school], leading to a strange, unexpected and awkward reunion. I had no memory of her, while she kept on saying to me, “You’ve changed!”
I wasn’t sure how to respond to that. I realize that the passage of time takes a toll on people, and that 45 years is a significant amount of time. I realize that when people ask me if I want the “Senior Discount”, they’re not talking about a perk available to High School seniors. Still, I “see” myself as being pretty much the same kid who walked the hallowed halls of our high school all those years ago. My class-mate’s oft-repeated declarations of “change” did not sit well with me. I even questioned whether or not she was seeing clearly. Maybe I should have asked if I could borrow her glasses for a second because, no matter how hard I looked, I could not “see” her back at high school. My “vision” just could not make that 45 year leap.
Two people looking at the same thing, yet each one sees it differently. Welcome to life in the real world! And welcome to life in The Church too. While we might wish that everybody would “see” The Bible exactly as we do, I hope we can “see” that this is neither a possible nor a desirable outcome. We are all so different in so many ways that we cannot have the same ways of thinking on every possible matter. Diversity of thought is actually a strength within The Body of Christ. As we concentrate on the Theme of “Vision” this year, let’s keep this in mind. We won’t necessarily “see” everything exactly the same way, nor should we make such an impossible demand on each other. But even when we “see” things differently, we always are, and always will be, the Family of God, united by Christ.
BTW – does anyone know who I could contact to pitch an idea for a Hallmark movie?
~Shepherd Ambrose Ramsey
