the rest of the story

I was watching some home movies and saw myself appear in the picture, a shapely young woman full of hope for the future, there were my parents, both gone to heaven now, and my brother and sister, her just a child and him a muscled young man. It brought up feelings in me that I have pushed away for so very long. I daresay we have all had “one brief shining moment”... Alan Jay Lerner wrote of it in the story of Camelot, “Don’t let it be forgot, that once there was a spot, for one brief shining moment, that was known as Camelot.”

So, after watching that little video I was thinking of “second halves”, specifically the second half of a few movies that I will watch until the mid-way point and then walk out or turn off. Why is that? The answer is that there is no such thing as a “happily ever after”, just reality which almost always ends with tears and heartbreak.

There are a lot of stories, both fictional and real that start happy and end sad but for the sake of time and space I will end this monologue with the story of Arthur, Guinevere and Lancelot, I’m sure you recognize it? It is Camelot. In the beginning there was happiness and flowers, dancing and ideals, Knights and maidens all happy and pursuing the beautiful thought of an ideal Kingdom where there is “might for right” and justice, chivalry and good deeds. This was before the pure, if conceited Lancelot, became ensnared by his ravenous lust for the beautiful “Ginny” proving that he was merely a mortal man and not the “saint” which he had believed he was.

There was a particular phrase that caught at my heart as I listened to the score of Camelot, the King, desolate at the demise of his dream is approached by a young lad who tells him that he has heard all of the wonderful stories of the Knights of the Round Table and because of hearing them wants to become one of the wonderful, fabled Knights himself.

Upon hearing what the lad had to say, the King has a glimmer of hope, the hope that as long as the story is told and remembered that something of Camelot will remain. When he is asked, “Who was that lad?” He answers that the lad is “one of what we all are, less than a drop in the great blue motion of the sunlit sea, but it seems that some of the drops sparkle, some of them do sparkle!”

Those thoughts made me wonder about the stories of people I have known and known of as well as the girl writing this, let’s talk about it for a moment.

We have all seen stories of famous preachers, politicians, movie stars who had attained an almost hero worship from their followers that committed some egregious deed and faced the public’s judgement passed while standing in line at the local grocery store reading the headlines on one of the published rags that specialize in telling all the dirty details they can dig up. I have been very disappointed in a few… I’ve been very disappointed in me a few times too.

Looking at the Bible we see heroes that failed but asked for forgiveness, and then there is the Hero of all Heroes in the person of Jesus the Christ.

2 Corinthians 5:20-21 “God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We’re Christ’s representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God’s work of making things right between them. We’re speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he’s already a friend with you. How? You ask. In Christ. God put the wrong on him who never did anything wrong, so we could be put right with God.”

Our goal should be to live up to the trust Jesus Christ put in us when He gave His life in the most chivalrous of all deeds to defend our right to might and justice.

Although it seems like second halves are not happy for most, I believe that because Jesus Christ rose from his un-happy ending of death so that we could be victorious, I know that even though stars have fallen before, I, like King Arthur, believe that you and I are “one of what we all are, less than a drop in the great blue motion of the sunlit sea, but it seems that some of the drops sparkle, some of them do sparkle!”

In my second half I am trying to sparkle, and I invite you my dear one, to just sparkle on with me…