who will you meet in heaven?

I just watched the movie, "The Five People You Meet in Heaven" last night. I had read the book about ten years ago, but never made time to see the movie. In it, we meet a man named Eddie who has worked on Ruby Pier, a small, beach side carnival, all of his life. I mean, from young boyhood, on. His father is an abusive alcoholic who also worked there, taking his miseries out on his family for as long as Eddie can remember.  In fact, Eddie says at one point, "I hated him. I always hated him!" Eddie's life, to him, seems insignificant. He loves kids, adored his wife and his last act while living was his efforts to save a young girl from a horrific accident, which then takes his own life. He meets up with five people who are very instrumental in the reason he is on earth. Five people who show him what life would have been like had he not been there.

Cue the brain...we've visited this theme already, am I right?

Yes, if you are a fan of "It's a Wonderful Life," you have.

But this movie, as "It's a Wonderful Life" did, made me think. Every life touches so many other lives!

How often do you ponder over your life? Does it seem tedious? Lacking luster?What is your reaction towards others? Do they bore you? Wouldn't you rather do something else if you were asked to help someone else?

That is the point here. In both movies, Eddie and George Bailey from "Wonderful Life" made darn sure that others' needs came BEFORE their own comforts. In George's case, his house was once a ramshackle dwelling that would always be in need of repair. In Eddie's tiny home, all he kept were the basics and a small box that held his mementos. Nothing more. In each movie, the character stood for the little guy, for what was truly important, all the while hating his own life.

It is said that after the passing of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, letters were found. In these letters were emotions poured forth that perhaps, she wasn't doing enough to alleviate the suffering there. She was always looking for that cue from God that what she was doing was enough. She never looked for the limelight, feeling that this-helping those less fortunate- is what we all should be doing. Even when she won the Nobel prize, she was humble enough to accept it wearing her sari and a simple blue sweater. No glitz, no glamour. And she never looked more beautiful.

Her own memorable line was, "find your own Calcutta!" Look around you. Who needs your help? You don't have to lead a huge corporation of helpers, just by your own example and purity of heart will you be in the place that God meant for you to be. Never doubt that. Let me repeat: "if your soul and heart are in this to genuinely help another, then you are exactly where God has placed you to be!"

We all have that "dark night of the soul." Why did I marry so and so if all he does is drink?" "Why did I take that job if all it brings is sorrow?" "Why am I hurting because a loved one left me?" Look back over that scenario. What happened during that time to make you think, for even a moment, that perhaps it was all wasted? We may never find out the true reasons for many of the things that we do until are time on earth has expired. Then all of these things will be revealed unto you...


"But there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known. "Accordingly, whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in the inner rooms will be proclaimed upon the housetops." Daniel 2:22.



Today and everyday, begin it with the attitude that nothing is ever a wasted moment. Look for the opportunities to be Jesus in a world that right now, is so lacking in love!