“It’s Just Cornflakes!”

Last night we had an unexpected treat. We try to reserve Friday nights for Date Night, but last night it was not possible. Instead, my parents asked us to stay for dinner, and we were able to spend a very enjoyable evening with them and my sister, Heather, and her family.

Heather and her husband brought a movie for the adults to watch while the kids played in the playroom. The movie was the new Adam Sandler film, “Click.” Now, I had seen the commercials for this film and was expecting some typical Adam Sandler humor. While there were many funny scenes, the movie was so much more than a simple comedy. The story is of an average guy who, through the choices he makes, is forced to live his entire life on auto-pilot. In the end, the price he pays for those choices is unbearably high. The part of the movie that struck me the most was early on when his character was warned to be careful about the choices he made less he end up like the character in the “Lucky Charms” commercials who searches for the end of the rainbow only to find it’s just a bowl of cornflakes. Adam Sandler’s character, unfortunately, does not heed this advice, but what an important reminder for me.

How much energy do I waste on things that will not even matter at this time next year? Jim Elliot, the well-known missionary martyred in Central America, said, “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep, for what he cannot lose.” It is so easy to be lulled into auto-pilot by all of the urgent things in my life, that I let the truly important things slip by unnoticed. Each of us has only one life to offer up as a living sacrifice to our Lord. May God help each of us to quit wasting time building with wood, hay, and stubble and focus on building that which truly lasts.“Turn my heart to Your decrees and not to material gain. Turn my eyes from looking at what is worthless; give me life in Your ways.” Psalm 119:36-37 HCSB