Imagine That

"There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every affair under the heavens... a time to keep, and a time to cast away." Eccl. 3:1,6

There is an old saying, that when you go to heaven, you probably won't say to God, "Gee, I wish I spent more time at the office." Life is about balance, but we have such a hard time achieving that in our lives.

Imagine That is a film that reminds us to examine our lives and find the balance we so desperately seek. And balance is not the same thing for everyone. Each one of us has a unique tipping point.

In the movie, Eddie Murphy plays Evan, a financial executive who struggles to find his balancing point. His daughter Olivia (Yara Shahidi) is struggling too. Her parents are divorced and neither seems to pay her any attention; consequently, with the help of her blanket, she creates a magical imaginary universe to escape and hide from the struggles in the real world.

Balance is the key for everyone. In the Scriptures, the author of Ecclesiastes reminds us that "There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every affair under the heavens... a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to be serious and a time to dance... a time to seek and a time to lose, a time to keep and a time to cast away..." (Eccl. 3:1,4,6)

Like Evan and Olivia, we all struggle with balance in our lives. We try to balance between work and play, between the "have to" and the "get to," between personal and public, between reality and dreaming. If we stay too long doing one thing, everything else suffers.

In the film, Evan was so wrapped up in his work that he forgot to play, and Olivia was so wrapped up in her fantasy world that she forgot to develop relationships with her parents in the real world. How often has that happened to us, too?

Imagine That is a good movie that should cause us to take stock of our lives. How are we doing in balancing all the various aspects of our world? For me, I know I need to spend more time in personal prayer and private time. Even in my off-time, I usually spend it with people - but rarely take a moment for myself. As I reflect on this movie, it reminds me to work on that area of balance in my life. What about you? What do you need to balance better?

Let us pray that we will all discover the appointed time for everything, and in so doing, find the inner peace we long for all our lives.