when the wild things are no more

Okay Dana this is for you because I told you I would post. Even without comments. I think I woke up this morning and wanted to find out what it would be like to be a movie critic.

In the movie "Where the Wild Things Are" Max and Carol seek to create a world where the sadness can not get in. A world that operates exactly as it is supposed to. It does not take long for the sadness to pervade their idyllic creation in the form of broken promises and broken friendships. The beautiful cinematography and quirky soundtrack offset the heavy themes of broken trust, disappointment, abandonment and the desire to escape it all. I love this movie because of the universal yet still painfully personal themes. How many times have I longed to escape to a world where the wild things protect me from hurt only to find that no such place exists?

I am not the Christian who looks for heaven in every movie. Yet I cannot help but resonate with the promise of hope and the desire for a place so very different than what we know.

I am familiar with the verses in Revelation of Jesus wiping all our tears away but I can not fathom a world where there is no room for sadness. Will even the memory of sadness be abolished? In a weird way I hope not. It is only because I have found myself in the throes of grief that I can appreciate joy and peace. For that reason I am okay to live with the memory of sadness.

For those who are weary of the monotonous disappointments of this broken world be encouraged that one day there will be a place that operates exactly how it was intended. A place so good that the sadness can not get in. A place where the wild things are not needed and cease to be.

If you have not seen this movie I encourage you to do so. You may not see what I saw in it and that's okay. It's a little weird, a little dark, a little funny but mostly thought provoking.