Field of Dreams

I watched the movie "Field of Dreams" tonight. I had never seen it before, though I knew the basic story. A man, whose father died before he could make amends, hears voices telling him to build a baseball field in the middle of his Iowa cornfield. He then begins to get visits from long-dead baseball stars, who come to play in his field.

At one point, he makes contact with a (dead) doctor whose dreams of becoming a baseball player were thwarted after only one inning of a major league game. The doctor ends up on the playing field as a young man, and actually gets to hit and run the bases. But then the daughter of the farmer falls off the bleachers. She is unconscious. The young ballplayer crosses over to her, becomes the old doctor again, and loses his opportunity to play in the field. However, he served a long life as the doctor in a small town, serving his fellow men. It's clear that though he had a dream, he chose a different path, and in so doing chose the better part.

Someone asked me what my dreams were a few weeks ago. It has made me think about what I have done, and still have left to do, with my life. I am coming to a grand turning point. Did I choose the better part? Was my true calling to be a good wife and mother? I'm not a famous author, newscaster, or actress.

But, yes, I have chosen the better part. Seductive as the things and accolades of the world are, they are not as important as performing the necessary tasks of life as well as we possibly can. How can I not be grateful for my life, my family, God, and the opportunities of ordinary mortality?