Remains of the Day....

After a morning (Thursday) of speaking "British"....as I was driving to work, I thought of Emma Thompson. I really like her as an actress and have thoroughly enjoyed most any movie I have seen her in. As I talked "British", I felt like I was Emma, in my head, of course....and thought of the movie, Remains of the Day. Remember it, with Emma Thompson and Anthony Hopkins, both servants in the same household, with an attraction toward each other, but always unspoken...ending with the focus on lost opportunities.

As I reflected on the title I thought it could pertain to that short part of the day, when employment duties were over, before time to sleep, where ones true heart passions can be enjoyed...children, family, time with God..the remainder of the day. How do we invest those remains? In chores, carry-over work, or brain-dead escape entertainment? Or do we invest those remains, like the choicest meat on a steak, in what really counts. Some days, like the tea party night I spoke about previously, I invest my remains the best way possible, in love and sharing with my little ones. Not preoccupied, half-focused, "interrupted." And then, once in bed, I invest my remains with my Savior, in prayer, reading, Bible study.

I also thought "Remains of the Day" could pertain to being "advanced in years"..with the "day" being our life and the "remains" being what is left, from here on out. And whether than thinking it is the unimportant part, just the end of the record repeating itself until it runs out to the end...(for those of you unfamiliar with records ....well..go look it up in Wikipedia) Rather, like the remain of my day to day, the remain of my life can be the best part, the passion part, the invested in the eternal part. These little eternal lives and my God. (I saw a bumper sticker today that said "Jesus-Changing the world one life at a time." I loved that. So often, I feel what I am doing is so insignificant, and then that resets the telescope....one, two, three, four...lives at a time.) So with the remains of my day, what will I do with it?

The third way I thought of the title was like the remains, from a death, or accident. Grizzly, I am sorry. But thinking, if the remains, what is left behind by my life, where inspected, reviewed, analyzed, what would they say? What legacy remains? What difference did this life make, by reviewing what remains from my days?

It is funny, after I had thought of all this, I decided to look up the movie, to remind myself of the plot. It was funny to read how Wikipedia explained the title. And I did not even tell them my ideas! :) Here is what they wrote:

The Remains of the Day" refers to evening, when a person can reflect on a day's work. Evening is symbolic for older age, when one can look back and assess one's life work. But "remains" also suggests what is left after a wreck, and it may be suggesting that this life was wrecked. "The Remains of the Day" also refers to the last vestiges of Great Britain's grand houses.