Small post today.
I have the flu (or some flu-like crud) and while I hate the fever, the aches, the cough, I hate missing church more than anything.
Church fills me.
And this week, I’ll be running on a less than full tank.
My own personal prescription for the flu is orange juice, chicken noodle soup, Advil and long movie marathons.
Yesterday, that meant watching the original Star Wars trilogy, Episodes IV, V, and VI.
I love Star Wars. I’m not a rabid fan, but I do have one Star Wars themed t-shirt. It reads, “Come to the dark side … we have cookies.”
I love how movies and stories like Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings (another trilogy I wouldn’t mind spending the day watching) take complex themes and dress them up in space battles and sword fighting, making heroes out of farmers and peaceful hobbits.
The theme of Star Wars is the battle between the dark and light in us all. Hatred, anger and fear reside in the dark, while goodness, righteousness and hope live in the light.
We all visit the dark side occasionally and not just for the cookies.
The dark side always slips up on us, catching us unaware.
One second, we’re riding home from work, ready to relax, eat dinner and then, the next thing we know, a car cuts us off, adrenaline floods our system and all of sudden, not only are we angry at the car in front of us, we’re remembering an argument with a coworker from earlier in the day.
Anger feeds anger.
In The Empire Strikes Back, Darth Vader reaches out to Luke, tempting him to the dark side, but Luke closes his eyes and calls out instead to his mentor in an almost childlike plea.
"Ben," he whispers.
When we feel tempted, we too must call out. We too must say His name even it’s only a whisper. “Please God, please help us.”
It is a prescription for living in the light.
