This time last year winter arrived before dismissing autumn. I caught her calling her crimson leaves, as they swirled across the powdery snow. It reminded me of a scene from the movie Notting Hill, and our word for this 9th day, ESSENCE.
Do you remember when Will (Hugh Grant) walks through the street market, broken hearted, while seasons change before his very eyes? He sees nothing. The season of joy, awakened by Anna Scott (Julia Roberts), is gone in a breath, and unexpectedly, he’s left to remember who he was before she came. But he can’t go back; he doesn’t fit into his old identity.
We’re a bit like that aren’t we? So many things have upended us, that we scarce remember who we once were. Forward moving, across unknown terrain, often leaves us swirling about, scattered and insecure. It is now that we must dig deeply into the core of who we really are, to find our ESSENCE, an ESSENCE of true character, refined by fire, unchangeable no matter the circumstance.
The challenge in good storytelling is to bring the protagonist from identity to ESSENCE. This journey is revealed through goals, motivation and conflict...yes, conflict! The courage we seize to overcome our greatest challenges in conflict transforms us into our best selves. Every hero we’ve ever championed overcame dire strife to earn our adoration. Even the little terrier, Benji, in Disney’s classic film from the ‘70s, overcame pending disaster to reach his true beloved ESSENCE.
At the end of the film Notting Hill, with the help of his fabulous friends, Will, decides to forgive Anna’s failures, to turn from insecurity and blame, and to trust that their love in the season to come, will sustain them. In the final scene, Will appears as a pretend journalist at a press conference, where he asks Anna to restate her desires. They reset their relationship, not as if nothing challenging has ever occurred, but because now, the true nature of their ESSENCE has been revealed.
Every new season of life begs the question? Who are you now? With God’s help, our best selves are yet to be revealed, as we journey forward authentically, in this great season of becoming!
“May the God who gives endurance and encouragement, give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had,” Romans 15:5
God bless you! See you tomorrow!
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