Jun 15

Written by:
6/15/2010 10:29 AM 

Life moves pretty fast.   You don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.

That’s a quote from the movie, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.  If you recall in the movie, Ferris decides that he needs to skip school for a day and just let loose.  He calls together his closest friend and his girlfriend to join him.  They spend the day experiencing all that downtown Chicago has to offer…museums, baseball, a parade, eating at a high-class restaurant, swimming, and speeding down the road in a hot red Ferrari.

 

As I mentioned in a previous blog post, I’ve been really looking at fear and its unreasonable hold that it has on many people’s lives—including my own.  We spend so much time in worry.  We worry about bills, we worry about our jobs, we worry about our children, we worry about our health, we worry about our weight, and we worry about aging.  We worry about the environment, the economy, the future, the past, failure, rejection, and death.  Some of these things we can influence and somewhat control.  We certainly can make good choices about what we eat, which will improve our health, but we cannot control our genetic make-up.  We can work hard and do our best in our jobs, but we cannot control the economy.  We can provide our children all the things that they need to be successful in life, but we cannot control their choices.  We can do everything with the best of intentions, but we will eventually experience failure. 

 

Ferris Bueller didn’t necessarily have the best of intentions, nor did he orchestrate his day off with innocence.  His pessimistic, downer friend, Cameron sat in his car arguing with himself over whether he should go along with Ferris’ scheme or stay home. 

 

Ferris:  I'm so disappointed in Cameron! Twenty bucks says he's in his car right now debating on whether or not to go out.

Cameron: [Cameron's in his car] He'll keep calling me. He'll keep calling me until I come over. He'll make me feel guilty. This is uh... This is ridiculous, ok I'll go, I'll go, I'll go, I'll go, I'll go. What - I'LL GO. [Turns the engine on then turns it off and hits the passenger seat]

 

Cameron knew that he had responsibilities and that going along with Ferris was probably not going to end well.  If you remember, Cameron ends up going with Ferris and eventually wrecks his Dad’s prize Ferrari. His response to the wrecked car indicates that he knows he’s about to end up in a lot of trouble, but welcomes the opportunity to a more honest relationship with his Dad. 

 

I’m not at all abdicating that we should recklessly throw out our obligations and responsibilities. But, I’d like to ask you to consider taking your own “Day Off”.  What if we allowed ourselves a day off from worry?  What if we allowed ourselves a day off from anger?  What about a day off from fear?  How would our lives change if we truly believed and acted on Luke 12:25-28?

 

 ^25-28"Has anyone by fussing before the mirror ever gotten taller by so much as an inch? If fussing can't even do that, why fuss at all? Walk into the fields and look at the wildflowers. They don't fuss with their appearance—but have you ever seen color and design quite like it? The ten best-dressed men and women in the country look shabby alongside them. If God gives such attention to the wildflowers, most of them never even seen, don't you think he'll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you?

 

So here’s the thing.  I usually try to make these blogs personal.  I wouldn’t want any reader to think that I’m just preaching.  I want anyone reading to know that these are my personal experiences and feelings.  I’m as average as the next girl and hopefully relatable.  I am about to take my “Day Off”.  I know there will be moments where I’ll be Cameron and really question whether I can handle it.  But, unlike Cameron, my help is not a screwball teenager.  My help is the Creator of the Universe—and that’s pretty darn cool.

 

Although…I wouldn’t mind having a Ferrari to make my “Day Off” a bit more exciting.  J