This summer I am taking my first summer class: Film Evaluation. Required for my major, this class consists of listening to lectures watching movies, discussing them, LOTS of reading, and none-to-few papers. I'm over halfway done already. Hoorah!
Today in class, we watched
Out of Africa, starring Meryl Streep and Robert Redford. Based on the writings of Karen Blixen, the story follows a young Danish woman as she travels to Kenya to marry a Baron, a marriage of convenience, not love. While in Kenya, her marriage falls apart and she braves the challenges of African life alone, that is until, she meets and falls in love with a safari man. He, unlike her, does not wish to settle down and commit, but instead prefers to come and go as he pleases. Near the end of the movie, she is forced to return to Denmark, due to a fire that demolishes her coffee plantation. At the last minute, he decides to join her for at least part of the journey, promising to return for her in a few days. That day never comes. Her lover dies in a plane crash and she is forced to say goodbye to the locals she has grown to love, and return home. Alone.
The movie was long and drawn out. Not only that, but it had a sad ending. I loathe sad endings. I realize real life often has sad endings (at least temporarily), but I do not enjoy watching them on screen. So why did this movie speak to me, in spite of its slow development and depressing ending?
In a sense, the movie reminded me of the desire in us all for something greater, something beautiful. Epic African landscapes permeated the film, along with breath-taking sunrises and sunsets. I found myself reminded of my time in Africa.
When I was 16, I fell in love with Tanzania, describing our mountaintop setting to my mother as "a little piece of Heaven on earth." It was seriously one of the times in my life I've felt closest to God.
And then Ethiopia. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, and I realize my time there was more frustrating and challenging than beautiful, for the most part. But I still loved the beauty that surrounded me. The lack of media and the fashion world mentality to distract me.
Sitting in class today, beholding the majesty of the African landscapes accompianied by sensational, inspiring music, I felt that longing in my heart. The longing one gets when watching a sunset on the beach, feeling a cool breeze sitting on top of a mountain, or relishing in a black sky ablaze with myriad of stars. That God-given sense that there is something more out there. That life on this earth is only a taste of what we were made to experience. I believe He gives us those epic moments, those glimpses of majesty, to remind us that He is Great, and that there is so much more to this life than our mediocre, day-to-day living.
Next time you find yourself in the middle of one of these awe-inspiring moments, savor it. Embrace it. And let it remind you that God has created us for an eternity filled with grandeur.
Ethiopia 2011
