A Walk in the Clouds, according to Wikipedia, is a 1995 American movie remake of the 1945 Italian film Four Steps in the Clouds. I was unaware of its existence not until a friend recommended watching it. I got interested since Keannu Reeves is the male lead, who doesn't like Reeves. I mean if there are some, I know that most people know him and like him a bit if not much. I am more familiar with the Constantine movie series since I am inclined with plots about angels and demons, but romance movies starring him, not one bit interested before.
I took a chance on this movie which deals with a lot of chances in life as well as wrong choices and decisions. It was a roller coaster ride love story of Sgt. Paul Sutton (who was then tied with Betty) and Victoria Aragon (a graduate student who got pregnant by her professor) at the end of World War II.
The story filled me with mixed feelings. I wanted to root for the male and female leads, sincerely and in full force, but I was quite concerned by their circumstances. They both had committed and uncommitted relationships with different persons and naturally they should end up with the person they fell in love with the first time. I was being inflexible while I watched the movie. I thought their relationship was wrong. Sutton should stay with his cheating wife and Aragon should find that bastard professor and let him marry her, only if I was the writer of that story, but I was not.
I learned a lot from the film like how everything could all go wrong with one single lie and only a few things that could go right, and one thing that I regretted the most was the farm of grapes got burned. Sayang! At the end of the movie, I was more concerned with the grapes and how they would rebuild the vineyard, which would take them a lot of time, effort, and hard work.
A Walk in the Clouds reminded me of Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (NIV). There is a season for everything under the heavens and there is the one and the only divine being who is in control of everything He allows to happen. Be joyful and hopeful in every season. Rejoice and hope in the season where you at right now.
A Time for Everything1 There is a time for everything,and a season for every activity under the heavens:2 a time to be born and a time to die,a time to plant and a time to uproot,3 a time to kill and a time to heal,a time to tear down and a time to build,4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,a time to mourn and a time to dance,5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,6 a time to search and a time to give up,a time to keep and a time to throw away,7 a time to tear and a time to mend,a time to be silent and a time to speak,8 a time to love and a time to hate,a time for war and a time for peace.
What is true love?
It would be difficult to answer this question. Maybe in my early years as a human being, it would be a simple question to answer. But this kind of query had evolved and became a complex one as life gives its best to the feeble time I have here on earth.
In this book by Jenny King, true love is that one person who will spend his or her life with you, for better or for worse, until death do you part. I must say that I had the same interpretation and perspective of true love. That must be the reason, why I had always been looking but not really intentionally getting or entering into a relationship with the opposite sex. I thought I could find true love in boys or in men. Though I was not specifically fond of interacting with them, I did have that longing or yearning to be crush back or love back by a boy or a man whom I was interested in. I was always waiting on the receiving end without even giving, ironic wasn't it.
The book Discover & Keep True Love shared a lot of practical tips on how to find a partner with whom you intended to be married with. I am already talking about marriage here where in fact I haven't had a boyfriend, well it's never wrong to be prepared just in case. haha. Spare me with your teasing, I know, I know, but I just want to take a chance on this book. I remember my co-teacher saying that by reading the books I bought from her I may increase my chance of getting a boyfriend and be married. I laughed at her jokes, or maybe she was serious. I don't know. This book just interests me and the other two books are Boy Meets Girl by Joshua Harris and To Know Him Completely by Jenny King. So in total, there are three books to read to have a bigger chance in the sea of fish.
I was looking at the wrong places and the wrong persons. True love was never found, only fleeting feelings. There was pain and struggles because of unrequited love or crushes and those made me feel antagonistic towards couples who were head over heels with each other. I was bitter at some point in my life, but I am glad that I found Him, or more like He found me before it's too late, or maybe He found me at the right time because his timing is always perfect.
It is never wrong to desire or to want someone with whom you can build a family of your own or exchange the undying oath of "Till Death Do Us Part". I still do, I desire to be with someone. I surrendered it to Him, and I think it is a moment-by-moment thing. I just pray that He prepares my heart for the will He has in my life. I believe I am in my waiting season, so by faith and strength that are from Him, I patiently wait. But until when? God only knows.
Who is true love?
Let me rephrase the question, who is true love? Let me leave the answer below, and may you seek Him because He wants you to receive the truest true love:
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ~Romans 5:8
NBS 99 Sale is extended until the end of August 2021. Despite doing some major budgeting for the two months, I was able to squeeze in at least 6 books, 5 of them are from the National Book Store Shopee account and 1 from their branch at Pavillion Mall Biñan. These are the books I got online and their discounted prices:
Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach - P99
Desert God by Wilbur Smith - P100
The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon - P99
Ramona Forever by Beverly Cleary - P50
Sword of Destiny by Justin Hill - P100
It was packed pretty well and got more discounts via Shopee coins and vouchers, so in total, I spent 336 pesos for 5 books. I thought that was a pretty good deal I guess. hehe. And this is the biggest sale with huge discounts I ever experienced from the National Book Store plus the mode of payment is COD or Cash-on-Delivery via Shopee platform, I didn't want to miss it. I got nothing from BBW 2021 online sale since they have a payment first policy and the delivery could take months.
Then, just the other day after claiming our loot bags from Gabay Guro with my co-teachers, we also dropped by at the NBS branch of Pavillion Mall. I wasn't able to resist the charm of the books though I was really trying my best not to be tempted, I decided to buy one book by Sophie Kinsella. Shopaholic and Sister was such a steal for a price of 63 pesos from 351 pesos. So why not squeeze another book on my tight budget. hehe. Justification. haha. I am hopeless.
Men have always been a mystery to me. For sure I had a lot of ideas about them based on the environment I grew up in, books I read, movies, and series I have watched, I thought I knew them well enough. But now, here at the moment, I realize that it is only a peak of an iceberg and some are biased or stereotyped or even a fabricated version of what a man is or can be or should be. I was clueless, out of footing, and in a bliss of ignorance.
The male type of human species was a threat and a danger to me. They are enemies. Violent, angry, and abusive were only a few of the impressions I had towards them. Though I had a few crushes and infatuations from the male type species, it didn't diminish the bad impression I had with the group. I guess it was the idea of a perfect or fictional image of a man that I created based on them that made me fall for or like them, which most of the time were too ideal to be real.
I reconciled this off feeling towards men when I surrendered it to God. There are still times I get too conscious and suspicious towards men, but I am aware that it is a moment-by-moment surrendering, it is not a one-time thing for me for now. I am looking forward to that time when this ill-feeling will completely vanish in my heart, and I am glad that I am in that process.
When I accepted how sinful and imperfect I am, and how Jesus Christ paid for my sins and that through Him I was forgiven, I was able to forgive him, them, those who did something to me, to my innocence. And also through the redeeming power of Jesus Christ, my dark past no longer has its grip on me. He freed me from shame and guilt that haunted me for a very long time. He made me anew. He brought peace to my life. He accepted me and transformed my life.
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:[a] The old has gone, the new is here!
2 Corinthians 5:17
So the recent book I read, Know Him Completely by Jenny King, gave me some practical tips or information that can be or may be useful in understanding or at least have a little idea on how to deal with M. Again, I agreed and sometimes disagreed with the author as I read the book. There are some ideas that I think are outdated, that's for me, and there are also a few helpful tips that I appreciated so much. Better yet, try reading this book by Ms. King, and you may tell me what you think by commenting down below or sending me a private message. See you.
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