The movie is hilarious, we follow Andy as he struggles to concentrate, constantly being interrupted by his outraged, drunken mailman, his runaway dog, snakes, and an entire small-town that hates him.
When Andy finally finishes his book, he takes his wife out to a nice dinner, checks in to a romantic bed and breakfast, sits her down by the fire, right before bed, cracks open some champagne, and presents her with his finished work. She sits down, and over the next few hours, he watches her with great anticipation as she reads his book. When she finishes, he says "Alright, I'm ready, what did you think?" She looks into his eyes, and bursts into tears. She says "I never knew what was going on, in the first 20 pages, there were 3 flashbacks, a flash forward, and on page 8, I think there was a flash sideways!" "What about the story?" he asks. She looks at him confused and says "Story? What story?" He replies, "Well, what should I do? Take out the flashbacks? Re-write the opening? I could do that!" She replies, "Burn it!" From that point on, Andy has it rough. He wrecks his car, breaks his arm, sleeps in, drinks too much, and sets traps for the mailman. He has given up on his dream of writing.
One night, Andy's wife sits him down by the fire, brings him a hot cup of coffee, and explains to him that she had written a book in her spare time, and sent it off to a publisher, who in turn mailed her a contract, a typed copy of her manuscript and a check for $5,000. He says to her "You wrote a book, and then you sold it? That's wonderful, what kind of book?" She says "It's a children's book, about animals. Well, squirrels mostly. It's about this squirrel who lives in Central Park that falls asleep in the back of a delivery truck, and wakes up in the country. He has some funny misadventures, and he makes all kinds of mistakes... Because he is from the city, and he is completely out of his element." "The squirrel is me, isn't it?" he asks. "No!" She says "of course not!" "What is is name?" He asks. She replies "Um... Andy. But don't get mad, you were my inspiration!" She goes on to reveal that Andy the squirrel gets run over by a truck at the end of the book.
It is a pretty funny part of the movie, but you are probably wondering where I am going with it.
When I saw this movie, my heart broke for Andy. Despite his hard work, talent, and self confidence; his dreams, his ambitions and career had failed. In the beginning of the film, Andy fully expected to move to the country, and write the best American Novel that had ever been written, but one failure after another left him empty, and hopeless. Has that ever happened to you? Have you ever felt so hopeless in your failures that you just wish you could start over? I know I have, and it is difficult place to be in.
Often, when I have felt this way in my life, when I investigate my soul, and find the source. It is me.
I am my own worst enemy. When I try to do everything on my own, I fail, every time. I kind of hate when people say "God will not give you more than you can handle!" I believe that is good theology that has been twisted into an ideal that is not realistic, and besides, at what point can you "not handle it" when your head explodes? Anyways, I digress. The truth is, with or without God, everyone will be given more than they can handle, the only difference is those who have faith in God, and allow Him to intervene in their lives. As humans, we are hopeless, rancid, depraved sinners, incapable of greatness. However, sometimes, what we fail to understand is that, anything great is something we can not handle, only through God can greatness be achieved.
I have never been one to ask for help.
But I have realized that if I don't ask for help, I will never achieve the greatness that God has planned for my life. So, I anticipate difficulty, knowing that God will carry me through to greatness, so long as I give him my everything.
"Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you."
-1 Peter 4:12-14 (ESV)
