Leaning

“While You Were Sleeping” is on our “top movies” list.  One of our favorite dialogues is between Lucy (played by Sandra Bullock) and Jack (played by Bill Pullman).  Lucy and Jack are in the process of falling in love with each other, but they haven’t fully figured that out yet.  Jack confronts Lucy, who has just received flowers from her landlord’s son, Joe, Jr...

Lucy: [to Jack] Okay, um. What do you mean by the leaning thing? You mean because he gave me flowers? 

Jack: And then you *leaned* 

Lucy: And then I leaned. 

Jack: Yeah. 

Lucy: Okay, how did I lean when I leaned?

(Thanks to IMDB for this!)

The scene becomes hilarious as Jack describes “leaning” in a way that was far from Lucy’s mind.  Then Joe, Jr. sees Jack and Lucy together.  Joe offers to help Lucy, if she needs it. Whens she inquires why he wants to help, he says it looks like Jack is “leaning."

We’ve watched the movie so many times that C and I often tease each other about “leaning” too much.

I wish I had a picture of something I saw a few years ago.  A couple came walking up from the parking lot to our auditorium and we saw that they were literally leaning into each other, holding each other up.  I was very moved by the scene. The couple, in their 80s, had been married about 60 years.  We met them when we first came to Yuma and knew them as some of the hard-working, single-minded people whose heritage is in the land which they farmed.  Deeply committed to each other and to their marriage, these people were both strong-willed.  A short conversation with either of them and you knew they were fully willing to give you a piece of their mind if they found the need.  They were also quick to share areas of disagreement with each other.  They both knew how to stand alone...

…and here they came, leaning.on.each.other...

…because they could no longer walk very far without it.  Like I said, I wish I had a picture.  You see, leaning is something we all need to do.  It may surprise you that even Jesus surrounded Himself with people He could lean on.  No matter how strong and individualistic we may be, “We all need somebody to lean on.”

The second step of The Walk is, “Grow Together Relationally.”  Leaning relationships can take months or years to form, but they are an essential part of becoming the person we were designed to be.  We will talk about it this weekend at Stone Ridge Church.  Hope you can join us…we need to lean on you!  Can’t be there?  Catch the podcast.