Mr. Holland's Opus

I got stranded in Syracuse during last Friday’s tropical rain storm, ice and snow storm, flood, etc. I put the time to good use and went to see the movie, "Mr. Holland’s Opus." It tells the story of an aspiring musical composer, played by Richard Dreyfuss. He had acquired a teaching certificate to have something to fall back on if he did not become immediately successful as a composer. He had to fall back. Early on he admitted that he hated teaching. He confessed that as a teenager he always wanted to be someplace else other than school. He admitted that it never occurred to him that his teachers may have felt the same way. His planned three or four year stint at teaching turned into a lifetime.

He and his wife had one child, a son that was born deaf (a particular tragedy for a father to whom music meant so much).

In spite of all, Mr. Holland becomes an excellent teacher. His students become his "opus," his work, his music. In a climactic scene in the movie (but not the climactic scene), he sings a John Lennon song which contains the words: "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."

How true! Life rarely turns out like we envision it. We should not feel it remarkable when this happens. After all, it happened even to God. Creation did not turn out like He planned. This did not cause Him to give up on it (on us). God did everything possible to make the best of a world that was far less than He had hoped—even to the point of giving His Son on a cross. Even for God, life is what happens to you when you're busy making other plans.

Hang in there!

C. David Hess