And...Action!

I love movies! It's one of my weaknesses. My favorites are movies based on true stories. I'll even watch documentaries. I justify it by telling myself I'm learning something. I'm not sure that's always the case, but it makes me feel better about the hours I spend "learning."

I've watched hundreds of movies... I take my education very seriously. A good comedy is hard to find. I'm always amazed at the things people will laugh at. Maybe I don't see life through the same lens everyone else does. I won't watch horror films. Life is scary enough without adding to it voluntarily. Besides, I was scared to death by one as a teenager and can't bring myself to try again. I think there are way too many definitions of science fiction. I grew up in a time when Star Wars was in its prime. That's MY definition of sci-fi! I know... I can feel the eye rolls from here. Sorry. (Not really) I don't mind the blood and guts of war movies. Most of them have really good plots and I can always close my eyes for the icky parts. I love a good action movie. I've lost count of how many times I've watched the Raiders of the Lost Arc movies. And mystery movies are great. I love it when you can't figure out who did it or when you think you have it all figured out and then at the end you discover you were WRONG!

Movies are great, but we need to remember that's all they are... movies. Even movies based on true stories take some artistic license to keep you engaged. And I've watched several documentaries that raised some red flags in my head. After some thought, I have to remember that it's created from one person's perspective. It still gets filtered through someone's opinion. How many times have you watched a movie with someone who got upset about a plot twist or an ending and you had to remind them that "it's just a movie?" Maybe that only happens to me, but I don't think so.

Each of us is the star in our own movie of life. And right about now I'm thinking, I forgot to close my eyes for the icky parts. I think our movies have a little bit of everything - romance, drama, action, mystery, and for some, even horror. But unlike Hollywood, we have some say in how our movie ends. We even get to pick most of the supporting cast. We can even choose how much drama or how much romance we want in our movie.

Are there unexpected plot twists and scenes that end badly? Do events happen that are completely out of our control? Most definitely! But life isn't as random as we make it out to be sometimes. God equipped us with independence - free will. We get to choose what path we take, what decisions - be it right or wrong - we make.

And what I need to keep reminding myself is, my movie is MY life. The choices I've made are MY choices. The mistakes I've made are MY mistakes. The path I've chosen has many twists and turns and it might not be the path others would have chosen, but it's MY path. Others may be watching my movie and rolling their eyes or they may be uncomfortable with a particular scene, but they're seeing it through their opinion... one person's filter. There is no artistic license in this movie just to keep you engaged, just to keep you happy. I've tried that in the past. It doesn't work out very well in real life.

I think what happens for some of us is we see people make mistake after mistake and we write them off - we stop watching, like a bad movie. What we fail to remember is it's someone's life! They may be going through a series of mistakes, but their movie isn't over. It can still have a great ending. That supporting cast can change. They still have choices to make. We are looking at someone's life through OUR filter - our opinion. It's not a bad movie... it's someone's life.

Instead of writing them off, maybe we can help them find a new director?

I've come to a place in my movie where I'm tired of writing the next scene, and I've discovered something wonderful. The Director of my movie is much better at it than I am. And He never gets tired. He is eager to give direction and my days go so much better when I leave Him in charge.

God gives us a choice... We can do it all by ourselves. Or we can ask for His help when we're in a pinch. Or we can just give Him all our burdens and let Him direct our path - our movie. I finally got tired enough to let Him do what He does best. The amazing thing is, I'm not so tired anymore.

Well... maybe a little. There was this really good "class" last night.

Proverbs 16:9 ESV The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes His steps.