By Corie Steinke, associate director of student life

Focus on week’s theme: Let it be so!

Of all the things to celebrate in 2017, let’s celebrate the 20 year anniversary of The Princess Bride. The 1987 film is set as a fairy tale told by a grandfather to his young grandson before bed. There are sword fights and treachery and a hero and romance, all the tropes of classic cinema. Wesley, a farmhand, loves Buttercup so much that he would do anything for her. When she asks him for anything, his response is always, “As you wish.” It is quick and automatic and by the end of the movie, Buttercup and the entire audience realizes it is Wesley’s regular declaration of love for her.

I think about the theme for this week, “Let it be so,” and I can’t think of it without motioning the same Wesley-like head nod, as if to acknowledge that as a statement of fact. God tells us to wait, to be patient, to have faith, to make peace, and to look forward to the new earth that will be created when God returns. What season we are walking through to reach this point, “Let it be so,” because after this — so long as there is faith and there is holiness in our lives — there is paradise.

Are you walking through a time full of frustration? Are you stressed out? Are you hurting and broken? Do the holidays mean something harder for you than it may for others? My prayer for you, and my hope as you continue through this week, is that you remember God has something so much greater in store for us than this life. To the hurts, hang ups and struggles — let it be so because God’s promises are so much bigger.