One particular Hallmark movie inspired today's writing. We saw it for the first time when it aired in 2013 and watched it again this year prior to Christmas. The title of the movie is "Christmas in Conway."
The main theme of the movie is about a man and his wife who live in Conway. The man is a bit cranky but his love for his wife shows a completely different side of him. His name is Duncan and his wife's name is Suzy. Suzy had been in the hospital and returns home needing care 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Her ill health forces them to bring in a live in care giver. Duncan is a get it done kind of guy and comes up with a brilliant idea. He decides he needs to construct a Ferris wheel in his back yard just for Suzy. He wants to give her the best Christmas gift ever and one she will never forget.
He begins the search for a Ferris wheel that can be assembled in their yard. He found the perfect 45 foot tall Ferris wheel in an abandoned amusement park. After some difficult negotiating and explaining why he needs it, the owner makes a deal with him. Duncan cannot assemble it on his own and has a former student of Suzy's help him. Suzy helped him turn his life around many years ago and he was thrilled to be included.
As the construction begins, the news travelled fast, raising concerns and desires to stop him from building the wheel. His biggest foe is a neighbor who had a designer decorate her yard in hopes to have her home win the "Christmas Showcase" home decorating contest put on by an upscale magazine. The neighbor's brother is the town sheriff and she leans on him to stop the project. She makes her desire to keep Duncan from building the Ferris wheel her top priority. As you can imagine, the police come, the neighbors complain but against all the opposition, Duncan and friend continue to build it.
Day and night they work in the midst of some pretty strong opposition. They show scenes of her lying horribly ill in bed, while Duncan works all the harder on the Ferris wheel. His deep desire to give her this gift came from the most special of days in their past. Duncan proposed to Suzy at the top of a Ferris wheel so many years ago and that was a moment they always treasured.
As the last parts of the Ferris wheel are put in place, their backyard fills with neighbors, the contest judges, the police and anyone who has seen what was going on. There are feelings of curiosity and feelings of anger and a near showdown with the authorities looms near. Their friend puts the last bolts in place while Duncan goes inside the house. In a few moments, he walked out of the house carrying Suzy. As they head toward the Ferris wheel, the crowd parts and he places Suzy on one of the seats. He slides in next to her and the friend starts the wheel. They cuddle as they ride the wheel together and Suzy smiles with the most amazing smile.
Duncan's love for Suzy knew no limits and his heart was filled with the desire to give her something that expressed how big his love for her was. I guess a 45 foot Ferris wheel is a pretty big expression of his heart.
He faced her life threatening illness. He went up against a tough man who owned the Ferris wheel not accepting no for an answer. He stepped into the project with no idea how he would actually get the Ferris wheel built but just kept moving forward. He took on the Sheriff and his mean, self centered sister, yet nothing would stop him.
His love for his wife drove him to do something extremely amazing and wonderful. His love drove him to do something that would let her know how much he treasured their life together. Nothing could stop him, absolutely nothing. He was at a place where he realized she may not be with him forever. He was at the place where he was not taking her love for granted.
We have people in our lives we love but do we recognize how much we really treasure them and love them? An even bigger question may be, do THEY know how important they are to us?
Duncan found himself in a place that he had to make sure she knew and in my opinion, he did something heroic! He would never have been able to live with himself had he not.
As we look to 2015, maybe rather than making New Year's promises to ourselves about stopping a bad habit or making a plan to get in shape, we should pause. Pause and consider how well we have told those we love how very much we love them. It can be our husband or wife, mom or dad, parents or children, neighbor, or a lonely stranger sitting on a bench.
Maybe we can make 2015 a year more people around us feel loved and cared for.
Duncan followed his heart and did something heroic. We pray and ask God for many things but have any of us ever asked God to, "Empower us to be heroic?"
What better time than this to pray such a prayer? What better time than this to not let any obstacle prevent us from being as heroic as Duncan was? What better thing can we desire to become than heroic?
Let us be heroic in a world that lost site of the value of heroes! Let us be unstoppable in doing the things heroes do! Be a hero in your town, in your home, or place of business. There is a little of the stuff that makes people heroes in all of us, awaken it!
Dear God, from the deepest parts of our hearts, please empower us to be heroic! Amen.