0
0
I’m really excited about seeing the sequel to Independence Day. I remember seeing the original for the first time in theaters back when I was in middle school. It was such an entertaining movie with a good balance of comedy and action. The actors were great—Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman, and of course, Will Smith. When I first heard about the sequel, I was skeptical, because sequels are either barely as good as the original or horrible—but rarely are they better. But as I’ve watched trailers, I’ve gotten more excited for its potential. Except for one thing: Will Smith is no where to be found in the trailers. Side note: This movie shouldn’t be released until Independence Day weekend IMHO. By the way, anyone who uses “IMHO” isn’t being all that humble IMHO.
Anyways, back to the Fresh Prince. . . So my anticipation for the movie has become more or less, “Will Smith better be in the movie—it looks like every single other main character is there, so he has to be.” Now, there’s a flaw with this kind of thinking—it can ruin a great movie. If I go into watching the movie with that mindset, I’ll be focused on looking for Will Smith, waiting for him to show up at some climactic moment. And in doing that, I’ll miss all the other goodness that’s happening—or I’ll not appreciate and enjoy them as much.
The same thing can happen for us in virtually any part of our faith journey. We can be sitting around, waiting for God to “appear” to us in a very specific way (like speaking in a big booming voice, or answering a big question we have, or in the form of a burning bush, etc.), that we’ll miss all the ways that God does appear and speak to us. We’ll be waiting for that Mass or that homily that really gets us going, that we’ll miss the beauty of the prayers we pray, the people we pray with, and of course Jesus’ literal presence in the Eucharist. We (and I’m totally including myself in this) need to stop focusing/judging others for how they pray, sing, read Scripture, or whatever, and focus on being in community with God.
But I do hope Will Smith is in the movie.
