Your life is an occasion...

There is an odd movie that I love that came out in 2007.  In fact, I still think about it often.  The movie is Mr. Magorium's Magic Emporium, and it stars some pretty great actors, including Dustin Hoffman, Natalie Portman, and Jason Bateman (one of my favorites!).  

There's a line that captured my heart and imagination from the first time I heard Dustin Hoffman's character say it.  Here's the quote:

"Your life is an occasion.  Rise to it!"

Oh man.  Our lives have a moment in time - a space on the main stage.  We can rise to that moment!  

It makes me think of Queen Esther (Hadassah) in the Hebrew Scriptures.  Her uncle challenges her to use her position and status to save her people, the Jewish exiles in Babylon.  She had a choice, so, here's the big moment:

13 Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, “Do not think to yourself that in the king's palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. 14 For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” 

-Esther 4

Wow!  She made the choice to stand up and fight in her moment.  It was her occasion to rise up!  She then called everyone close to her to prayer and fasting, and then she took the risk of approaching the king uninvited and helping her people, and God saved His people through her!

Lord, grant us wisdom and courage to stand up and take our moment and rise to the grand occasion of our lives!