On Saturday we got to take Maci to her first movie ever. We were so excited to spend some quality one on one time with our girl and watch her sweet face as she saw the huge TV screen play a movie. She got the full theater experience. Best seats in the house as well as her own kiddie pack of popcorn, pop, and candy. It was so much fun watching her face as the previews started and she got excited for each and every new kid movie coming out in the next 6 months. After what seemed like ENDLESS previews the movie finally started. Or so we thought.
Instead an ocean filled the screen and the theater filled with a man singing. Soon the screen filled with this cute volcano's face:
The narrator introduced him and talked about how he was happy but he wanted someone to 'lava'. He was hopeful and every day he would sing this song:
"I have a dream
I hope will come true..
that you're here with me
and I'm here with you.
I wish that the earth,
sea, and sky up above
will send me someone to lava"
Now this went on for years and years. Thousands of years to be exact. As the song continued we soon saw the big tall volcano turn into a short, old, tired volcano. He didn't look as happy and full of life as the beginning and yet he sang the song up above knowing it would be his last time being able to sing it. As he sang we are taken down under the sea to a beautiful girl volcano who had been listening to him for all those years. She finally knew it was time to be able to rise up above the sea and meet him. As the song ended though, the original volcano descends under the sea. His face says it all, he feels as though his dream is gone. And as he descends the girl volcano shoots up and rises just missing the other. Not seeing the man who sang to her all those years she remembered his song and started to sing it. Now under the sea, the boy volcano hears her angelic voice and knows she was the one sent for him. And yet he is sad because she won't know that he is there for her and listening. As she continues to sing, his lava rises and he is shot up to the top again to be with her. Finally after thousands of years of singing, his dream is a reality and he has some to 'lava'.
While this short film is silly and volcanoes can't talk or sing or have someone to 'lava', the message was clear. We can't ever give up on what God is promising us. His timing is perfect and He knows the best way for us. We might not like it and we might have a point in our journey where we feel the 'dream' has died but how often is it when we feel like all hope is gone that God shows up in a mighty way and says "Look my child! LOOK!! Here it is! You have been waiting faithfully and you haven't stop believing in me. And now the time is right and I want to bless you and give you what I have been promising" Take a look at Abraham. Abraham waited years and years for God's promise to be fulfilled. And God did exactly as He said He would. Probably not in the way or timing Abraham wanted but it happened. God promises that if we wait upon Him, he will renew our strength. (Isaiah 40:31). So when it takes Him longer than we want, He will keep giving us the strength we need to carry on if only we call on Him.
We need to always have our ears and eyes open for ways Jesus is trying to speak to us. I could have just watched that short film and thought "Well that was kind of cute" and yet God had a message He needed me to hear. It seems I ask Him daily these days to make His voice known and clear to me. Some days He chooses to stay silent and the other days He whispers quietly into my heart and makes it known that He is everywhere and He can use ANYTHING to make me hear Him.
From this day on when I see or hear about that Disney short film called "Lava" a smile will form across my face. And I can't wait til we have the movie at home so I can watch it again with our sweet Maci and have the conversation about God always fulfilling His promises. Let us all spend the rest of the week keeping our ears and eyes open for the most random of ways God will try to speak to us. Because every time He speaks....it is SO SO worth it.
