I went to see ‘Up in the Air’ recently with the very suave George Clooney. He’s a man without roots – no family responsibilities (that he accepts), no house to maintain (he has an empty flat), just a man permanently on the move going to the head of every check in desk in the airports, always turning left on the plane to go first class and waited on hand and foot. An enviable lifestyle. And it gets better. he meets an equally suave, clever, feisty woman who is the mirror opposite of him. And he falls in love. And we watch and we are envious of them as they sip champagne as the sun goes down and they dangle their feet off the end of a very expensive yacht. What a life!
But without doing a spoiler – it’s not the be all and end all. He has sisters, one of whom is getting married and they need him. They are not that particularly attractive. His older sister is sharp, cutting and ordinary. The groom is a bit of a boring geek. They don’t have much money and their homes are, well, homely. No steel surface and leather here.
And this is rootedness. But it’s boring, small, ordinary.
And this is the choice we all have – to run after the glamour of a life always moving – always for us, and one that’s here and now and for others. Ordinary kids, ordinary work, ordinary church, ordinary friends, ordinary marriages. Making the best of the ordinary.
