Ladies in Lavender

I watched an interesting film the other night. "Ladies in Lavender". At the end, I didn't think much of it...it was nice, but nothing special. Then, as usual, the Holy Spirit started pointing out some things 'relevant to life'.

To briefly summarize the story, two elderly sisters, who live near the ocean shore in Great Britain, see a young man who has washed up onto shore and is nearly dead. They nurse him back to life and health, and it turns out he is Polish and a gifted violinist. These ladies pour their hearts and lives into this young man, giving him everything he needs to start life over...and then he is whisked away to London, without even having an opportunity to give them a proper "goodbye". Needless to say, the sisters are devastated by his hasty and seemingly heartless departure. Later, however, they learn that he will be the soloist at a philharmonic orchestral concert. The two sisters travel to London and surprise him after the concert! Of course the reunion is sweet, but oh, so short-lived as the three of them have about 2 minutes together before he is whisked off to meet "very important people."

The sisters watch him walk away, turn to each other and decide to leave, rather than wait to see him again. We don't know if they ever meet again.

We, like these sisters, in a moment may be called to "breathe" life into someone, nurture that person, love that person, give that person everything he or she needs, and quite suddenly, that person could be taken out of our lives for whatever reason. In this film, we see that the seeds they planted into his life were for a greater harvest...his musical talents "ministering" to hundreds if not thousands. The sisters, of course, would have loved to have kept the boy around, but we can say the Lord had greater plans for him. Letting go is often very challenging, but when we see the blessing, as these sisters got to see when they saw him perform, the sacrifice is worth it all.