Go have another adventure

Last night my wife and son picked out a movie for all of us to watch. The movie he chose was the Disney/Pixar classic 'UP' which is about man grieving the loss of his wife and thinking she left him too soon to complete their adventure in life. The two of them always had this running script where supposedly they would settle in Paradise Falls. Well she died before that could happen.

In this scene Carl has landed his house on Paradise Falls, but in the process has alienated a boy scout kid who came along for the ride in search of earning his medal and a dog who only wanted to love him. He unwillingly pushed them away because of his need to hang onto the things of the past. Carl walks back into the home, sit's in his chair next to the one Ellie always sat in and decided to look at their memory book which began with the page 'things I want to do'. As he turned to the next page there were pictures of their marriage. On the final page were her handwritten words, " now go have another adventure". Carl thought all along that their adventure was never complete when his beloved Ellie died, but reality was she had completed her adventure by marrying Carl. It wasn't Paradise Falls, but it was her marriage that was the adventure.

Carl closes the book, looks outside and sees the young boy drifting away to go after the evil character Charles Muritz. Carl decided that the only way he could lift his house to help this boy scout was to discard the things from the past by dumping all of the possessions he and Ellie had accumulated over a lifetime. Only then was the house able to float up.

When we are grieving we need to let go of our pain by creating a new adventure in our life. For our family we are creating that adventure by flying to California to see friends and experience the beauty of the west coast.

Carl learned that his adventure wasn't in the past, but in the future with his new found friends. God has given us the ability to pursue that next great adventure by giving us the hope that Christ has given us. He gave us the assurance that our loved one is in a better place as well as the assurance that we can have our next great adventure.

In the end Carl helped a small fatherless boy earn his boy scout medal and the three of them, Carl, the boy and his dog sat outside the ice cream parlor eating ice cream. Carl learned that his adventure wasn't in the past with his beloved Ellie, but it was in the future with his new found friends.