One my love is movies. I just love the idea of storytelling and how powerful it can be if told in a certain way.
Two movies recently made an impact on me..'Christmas lodge' and 'The man of Steel'. They both have no connection story wise, yet they are tied with a common thread..'choice'.
The first one is simple, a young believer girl who wishes to preserve an old Christmas lodge (where she has memories of her childhood) and how her family (specially her grandfather) supports her. The later one of course is a Superman movie so I should not say anything more.
The grandfather convinces his son to help the girl by telling him a story. The story of a carpenter who helped the ones who were needy. He didn't care about what the world would say or his income but saw that people's need for help, and rushed to them. This is the carpenter from Galilee - Jesus.
The main protagonist of the story listens to her grandfather and makes 'a choice' to help preserve and restore the lodge as she sees the need (and probably the only income source of the owner) and stands firm to offer her help against all odds. She believes that the Lord will provide and follows through.
My mind started running these parallel thoughts. First, our bodies/souls are like 'the lodge'. God on purpose puts certain people in it, so we can be shaped and restored to what He intends us to be. Thus, we are enabled for making 'the choices'. Second, It's upon us to make the choice. The choice to let people in and work with us; and the choice to allow God to open up his ways for us. His path may not be clear at times, but still making the decision to move forward will always takes us on the progress path.
This is the point where the Superman movie comes into picture. The very lines in the movie say it "Sometimes you just have to take the leap of faith, trust comes later." I feel this leap of faith is those choices we make. The decisions that we take; that strong confidence we show that no matter what I want to go on following God. I do not know what He has in store for me, but if I continue to walk ahead I'll eventually know. See, God is our first parent, He'll never harm us. Yes He'll take us through difficult situations and really really hard times, that's a guarantee. But even in those situations He'll give us the reasons, tiny moments to smile; which will make us believe in Him again.
Take the case of Clark (Superman), his father teaches him to make those right choices. The choice that'll lead him to be the man he is going to be. Clark understands that in order to become that leader or savior, first he needs to make the right choices and no matter what you always always have a choice. Likewise God teaches us to take the right steps; sometimes through his word, sometimes through mistakes,situations and experiences or even through people he places in our lives. But He keeps the decision making part to us. Somewhere I read this and I feel its so apt: "God will never interfere in our will, but He'll get His ways through our decisions and make them right." What do you think?
