Filling the Void

The film “Un Jour” by Marie Paccou has a sort of resignedness to it... A man comes, stays, then leaves.

We wake up one day and, unexpectedly, someone enters our life. We cannot help but invite them in. We change to accommodate them and then, when they are gone, we are left with a void, wondering what we did the day before they came. The film illustrates this cycle in a matter-of-fact way, so simply that as we gaze through our character to the window she is standing in front of, we cannot help but feel her sadness. 

It’s personal, it’s relatable, and it hits home.

As this film ended, I asked myself “When someone leaves a hole in my life, do I mostly miss them and their ability to fill that hole or do I miss who I was before they came along and my ability to be whole all by myself?”

I eventually came to the conclusion that it’s both and maybe that’s why the pain of losing a relationship is so great. I not only lose another person, I lose a small piece of myself.

The best news surrounding this subject is that Christ feels our pain, just as we feel the pain of the woman in “Un Jour”. And ultimately, He is the only one capable of filling our voids completely.