“It’s a gift” says Yevgraf Zhivago to his brother’s illegitimate daughter in the motion picture, Doctor Zhivago
One of my favorite movie lines of all time is “It’s a Gift”.
It’s the final line from Doctor Zhivago.
Yevgraf Zhivago (Alec Guiness) has been looking for years for the illegitimate daughter of his brother, Yuri Zhivago, the brilliant poet and physician. Yevgraf thinks he finally finds her working as a common laborer at a soviet energy plant.
“The girl” he interviews is plain-looking,and ordinary, played by Rita Tushingham — hardly a child of the radiant Lara (Julie Christie )or the handsome Yuri ( Omar Shariff).. But when she leaves with her boyfriend, Yevgraf sees a zither on her back. His brilliant brother had also played the zither.
“Do you play?”
“Does she play?” replies her boyfriend. “Oh how she plays!”
It is at that moment, as the girl and boyfriend walk away that Guiness realizes that the girl indeed was the love child of Yuri Zhivago and Lara.
“Then,” Yefgraf cries out. “It’s a gift”.
The simple line is the culmination of a book and a film about scandal, love, loss and the continuation of the ineffable through the gifts we receive.
I have been thinking about gifts that each of us are given this week. I am thinking about the gifts that director Tony Scott had before his tragic death a week ago. He had the gift o a discerning artistic eye.
“We all have different gifts, according to the grace given us,” Says Romans 12: 6 – 8. ” If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it serving, let him serve; if is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.”
Gifts are clearly passed down through nature from parent to child but it is orchestrated by God. Today, we who read this have the gift of life. We should all be grateful for that.
And we should be grateful for the gifts born into us. Our fate is tied into our gifts, whether we chose to use them or ignore, to bring glory to ourselves or to God, whether they are for ” noble or common purpose.”
Our gift is a compass on our journey.
It brings us ultimately to our destiny.
