Longings & Babette’s Feast: Part 6

Return to your fortress, you prisoners of hope; even now I announce that I will restore twice as much to you.—Zechariah 9:12

In my sixth decade, desires fulfilled beyond my imagination, I pressed on in the joy of desire fulfilled. I published two more poetry chapbooks, enrolled in more art classes, and my portfolio bulged.

Entering my seventh decade, I published a memoir—nothing I expected to write—and am currently working on three manuscripts. Waiting decades to enter this phase was not what I expected. But in the waiting, I was enlarged, matured, and shaped—into a prisoner of hope (Zechariah 9:12).

The Ebb and Flow of Longings

New opportunities still come—with their challenges and waiting periods—along with new longings. Longings ebb and flow like the tide and sometimes linger like a seashell on the shore. Can I thank God for the life he sends me, whether or not it’s the life I imagined? When life unfolds differently than I planned, can I welcome it?

I expect I’ll ask these questions all my life. And I expect to reread Jeremiah 29:11 each time: “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

May I remember to renew hope with each longing or submit to God’s better vision for the future.

A New Longing

A new longing emerges, one with a timeline I can’t ignore. In my seventh decade, the clock is ticking, the runway is short, and I’m filled with new longings. How many will I see in my lifetime? How many will I release to God? And how many will I continue to hope for and await with expectation?

Do I write more books? Yes, as the Father commissions them. I’ll start by completing those three manuscripts I’m working on, and see what happens next. Do I relocate to be closer to family or build deeper roots in my new community? How do I manage my money for the long haul—fulfilling some longings or releasing them and continue to manage them carefully in an uncertain time?

Maybe I need a new movie.

The Power of Story

This is the power of story—to transform lives. Writers cobble together tales to lift us from despair, goad us to good, and encourage us in waiting. Screenwriters transform words into film, to educate, inspire, or challenge us. Such stories find the deep longings in our hearts and name them. Like our dreams, they show us what we cannot see. They lead us with word, image, and soaring musical scores to name what we’ve not been able to articulate—as Babette’s Feast did for me.

In the meantime, I may need to rewatch Babette’s Feast.