Tonight I finally saw the movie Dear John. Every one had told me what a great movie it was, and that I would cry... so I was ready for all that. What I wasn't ready for was how much it made me think of and miss my Nate.
The story is a of a young solider who meets a girl on leave. Channing Tatum plays the solider. He reminded me so much of Nate. His size and physical features for one thing, but also his mannerisms. It really was a little uncanny!
I cried! I cried in the sad parts of the movie like every emotional person does, but I cried really hard when he was shot in Iraq. That is where my soldier's story ended. He came home in a box.
I really like the part when he is taking about coins. How coins are made at the mint. He says "I am a coin in the United States Army. I was minted in the year 1980. I have been punched from sheet metal. I have been stamped and cleaned. My ridges have been rimmed and beveled. Each and every batch of coins are personally examined just in case any have slipped through with the slightest imperfection. But now I have two small holes in me. I am no longer in perfect condition."
It made me think of several things. It made me think again of Nate. He to was a coin in the US Army. He was stamped and cleaned. His ridges were rimmed and beveled and he because a man! The army was good and bad for Nate. It made him even stronger than he already was, both physically and mentally. But it also broke him.
The monologue also made me think of the gospel. It made me think of the Plan of Salvation. We are all coins in God's plan. We have been punched from sheet metal. We have been stamped and cleaned. Our ridges have been rimmed and beveled. Each of us was personally examined before coming here and NONE of us had the slightest of imperfections.
Now we are here. Life has given each of us experiences. Some have been easy and others are not. Each experience wears on our sheet metal a little. Some of these experiences just roughs us up, dulling our shine. Some leave scratches, nicks or dings. Some experiences we feel could crush us all together! No matter what those experiences does to our sheet metal....we have a way of returning to that perfect state.
It does not matter that we are no longer in perfect condition. The Lord does not want us to return to him in perfect condition. We need these experiences, trials and lessons to show US just how strong our metal is. And then when we have passed our test....HE will make us perfect again!
How I love the gospel. How grateful I am for prayer. When I feel like a train is rolling over my coin and trying to flatten me I can turn to the Lord. I KNOW He is there! He lightens my burden and helps me carry my load. How grateful I am for that.
On another note....Brice sold the Jeep tonight. He actually sold it last night, but the deal was made final today and they drove it away. This comes with mixed emotions. It's great that he sold the Jeep. Brice inherited the Jeep and it was a good project for him. He made A LOT of improvements on it and it really looked amazing from where he started. Also, the Jeep had a reclaimed title because it had been in a wreck. Brice sold it for a really great price seeing as what the banks would loan on it and that we paid nothing for it. So excited for that aspect, but sad to see it go to! It was a fun little Jeep to drive around in.
Since March we have been trying to sell the Honda. We had to many cars and to many payments and with the way things are right now we just needed to unload. This past weekend we decided that we would take the Honda and Acura and trade them both in since we hadn't had any bites on the Honda, but that turned out to be a not very good option so we still have all these cars!
I have always wanted a Jeep, however now that I have a baby I just don't feel real safe driving her around in it. So while I like it, it isn't my first choice of cars to drive. Brice recently has really needed a truck for doing automotive work. Jeeps just don't have a lot of trunk space - shocking I know - so when picking up parts it hasn't been his first car of choice either. Brice put the Jeep online Sunday night and now it is gone. I guess that was the car to go! We are still hopeful to sell the Honda (would really like to sell it by the end of the month seeing as it needs to be registered!), but until we do at least all cars fit back into the garage.
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