Browsing Through Life!

I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life so that you and your children may live. Deuteronomy 30:19

There are so many “old” movies which have situations and lines that make them memorable. I have always loved Peggy Sue Got Married, not only because it reminds me of the late 50’s and early 60’s, but because it tells a story of never taking things for granted, making good choices, and listening to advice. It is marked by regret and bittersweet appreciation.

Briefly, the movie is the story of Peggy Sue Bodell, a 43 year old woman who is catapulted back to her senior year in high school. It begins with Peggy Sue getting ready to attend the 25th reunion of her high school class. We learn that she is in the process of divorcing her unfaithful husband, Charlie. Once her high school sweetheart, Charlie has failed to fulfill his dream of being a pop singer, and has become a crass television salesman known as “Crazy Charlie the Appliance King.” At the reunion, Peggy reunites with her high school friends, but after she is announced high school reunion queen, she faints and wakes up to find herself back in 1960.

Peggy has a distinct advantage when she goes back because she has retained all the knowledge and experience from her life, but she is still treated like a 18 year old by her friends. As she explores the mistakes and the feelings of those years, she is now able to see people and things in a different light. Peggy doesn’t see any way to find an alternative ending to her life, so she resolves to find a way to go back to her 43 year old life. Before she goes, she wants to pay one last visit to her grandparents. In her conversation with her grandmother, she hears some things that cause her to rethink her life. Her grandmother says, Peggy, right now you are just browsing through time (life). Choose the things that you’ll be proud of; the things that will last.

Browsing is defined as surveying goods for sale in a leisurely and casual way. I always think of it when I am in a store and an associate asks “May I help you?” or “Are you looking for anything imparticular?” I usually answer, “No thank you, I’m just browsing.” We browse in order to help us make “good choices”.

As teachers, I can’t count all the times, we used the expression, “Make good choices” when dealing with our students and parents. When we make good choices, “we choose options that will have a postive impact or a lasting impact on ourself and others, and we don’t let people convince us to make choices that are harmful or unsafe.”

In this modern era, it seems that many of us are still browsing when it comes to finding our purpose in our lives, our families, our spiritual lives, and our choices. The things that we do now can affect the way things turn out in our future. One of the greatest abilities that separates humans from the rest of God’s creation is the ability to recognize alternatives, to weigh options and their possible consequences, and then to make an informed decision. We browse, but then we need to make a choice.

It is always a good idea to browse when making a big decision, but when the choices are found, we need to move forward. When browsing to make choices, we should ask overselves; How will this choice affect my family and those who are following in my footsteps? How will it affect my influence and respect with other people? How will this choice affect my self respect and my relationship with God?

For example, many Christians tend to browse around choosing a church to help us spiritually which is absolutely the first step. Then, we browse through the list of opportunites it offers for them. We browse through what is means to commit to that church, and we browse through the opportunties for service. We ponder and contemplate, but we don’t made a choice. Too much browsing leaves us empty.

From the beginning of creation people have had to make choices, and we haven’t always made the right ones. God would have us give up the browsing for short term gratification and make the choices to achieve long term fulfillment.

The movie has a hopeful ending in that Charlie realizes his mistake and Peggy Sue seems willing to make the choice to try again,but we never know if they continue to browse or if they make a choice. Eleanor Roosevelt once said, One’s philosophy is not best expressed in words. It is expressed in the choices one makes. In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. The choices we make our ultimately our responsibility. Stop browsing and make some good choices.