An Affair to Remember

The broad warning appears now – this is a no big deal and no big opinion posting.
I love old movies. So sue me. I have pondered over this for quite a while and my family laughs when I jump up and down as I slip the Netflix out, waiting breathlessly for the newest old movie I’ve ordered while they aren’t looking. In fact, I consider Netflix my primary property though I pay no bill every month. In fact, that is why I sprang for good Internet, the beautiful watch online for free feature. I’m always happy to let someone else put something in the queue, but if it’s a dud, I yell loudly that it wasn’t my fault. Truth to be told, with my using Netflix almost as much as Facebook, it’s normally my fault.
When I say “old movie” this is not “Breakfast Club” or “Driving Miss Daisy” or even, as a few of my younger friends would suggest, “Miss Congeniality” old. Last night I watched a 61-minute movie from 1936, (o.k. – it was too old.) The preferred range is from about 1938 to about 1965.
Violence was in the lines and the pathos, men and women knew they were different, (wonderfully different,) swear words were save for moments of great drama (can you imagine Clark Gable being famous now?) and the sex was greater, not because we saw body parts, but because, at least in the movies, there was a deeper attraction being shown and the dark tunnel was there for a reason.
I puzzle over my fascination with old movies. It makes my friends and family groan and my siblings are in the habit of saying “Anything – anything but black and white”. I have no problem with modern or new movies, I like watching comedy, romantic comedy, action, and drama, sometimes, but why is it that my heart sings after watching “The Best Years of Our Lives”, “The Trouble With Harry”, “The Great Escape”, “How to Marry a Millionaire” or even “Twelve O’Clock High”? Yes, my preferred decade is the 40’s and I would give a lot of money to make my hair look like Lauren Bacall’s in “Key Largo”. And yes, all of my lasting loves are on movie stars that have had their Special TIME magazine cover or full tribute addition and kicked the bucket a while ago.
I am pretty sure that there is something about the subtlety that does it. Happiness that doesn’t scream, pain that is hidden, and a lot less sin on screen. Clever comedy doesn’t have to resort to potty or bedroom humor and there are more motives for suspense than Republican financiers ruining the lives of every immigrant fugitive on the run. Of course the old movies had their agendas too, and perhaps because I’m not worried about red scares popping up in every McDonald’s they don’t bother me as much. In fact, some of those agendas were moral ones, but we’ve forgotten about those, and if we haven’t, we get upset when someone reminds us of them.
It’s true, I would rather hear Bing Crosby sing and Gene Kelly dance then walk out of more theaters being disgusted that I just paid $9 for 2 hours in a stinky seat to watch brightly colored undergarments or learn new swear words.

Mirror, mirror, on the wall

Some thoughts on image...

As we think about ourselves we have a certain image, the one we think the mirror reflects. When I am really tired, sometimes I stare at myself in the mirror without really seeing the whole picture. In fact, a few minutes may have passed and suddenly I realize I’ve been staring without seeing anything at all. This is, perhaps, a good image of the image we have of us.
The thoughts we have about ourselves give us a picture, the celebrities we look at and admire do to, and sometimes the music we listen to does as well. We see ourselves as stupid, elegant, smart, ugly, charming, or silly. Depending on whom we are with, we compare ourselves to them and forget that it doesn’t matter how well we measure up to people down the street, in class, or our parents. These images are not the one God has of us.
Somehow God decided that He would create beings in His image and did. He allowed us to think, to worship, to act, to create, and to plan for a future. Through His Word made flesh, we have been created. Through His Word made flesh we are able to enter into a love relationship that is eternal. Only as we begin to see us as God sees us to we begin to have a true image of ourselves, because God creates and knows truth. Jesus is the complete image of God and as we begin to enter into His life, growing in Him and through Him and doing His will on the earth, we begin to enter into life with the Father and begin to see the divine dance which we were meant for in the beginning.
This active faith in Christ begins to change our minds. It changes our emotions, much more slowly. There is no one in our fallen world who always thinks as complete in Christ, but when we step into the life that is possible in Christ through the Holy Spirit, our perspective begins to shift and God gets bigger to us. In fact, God is always bigger, but sometimes we forget and think we are the only thing that matters. We can blame this on other people, movies, and facebook, but it is sin. Sin separates us from God and gives us messed up views, like smudges on the mirror. Sin puts our needs above all else and sin thinks we should make decisions for our idea of our image.
It’s popular to think that there is nothing greater than your dreams or your decisions. Religion is only as good as your decision to follow that religion and the books of rules are not really what you must do or must not do, but they are really only so that you won’t hurt someone else, nothing seriously bad.
We want to so badly find out what will make us happy. So we, depending on what kinds of people we are, decide to not rest until… fill in the blank… Get a boyfriend. Get a new purse. Get better friends. Get a friend. Get a new job. Get the best grades. Get more influence. Get out of your parents’ house.
The problem is that we aren’t happy. Why not? We aren’t supposed to be happy here. We are supposed to be happy as we become completely ourselves, which everyone wants. But we don’t think about who ourselves really are. In fact, they are created in God and for God and will only be happy in God. This begins here, but is finished or perfected in eternity.
As you begin to see how big God is and how close He is and yet how ordained all to be in harmony together for Him, you begin to see how wonderful it is that He became flesh and became the redeemer for us from our sin and from our selfish ideals.
No one can ever be happy alone. We are not meant to be happy alone. We are meant to have relationship. Relationships sharpen and soften us, creating us more and more into Christ’s bride, waiting expectantly for His return. This relationship with Christ, which will grow and purify us if we let it, will cause our relationships with others to change and become greater. All of this is in preparation for the King of Kings. One day our longings will cease. And it will be because those longings will be answered in the completeness of God.
The crazy thing is that we are not designed to be on our own or our own. We are meant to be in God. The more we are as God designed us to be, the happier we will be.
We remember God’s bigness, His otherness, and His nearness, through Christ and the Holy Spirit. Through our view of God, we begin to see us as we really are, created for His glory and created to be complete in Him.
There is no forcing and no yelling and no lying to see us as God does, it is a slow learning, loving, and growing in God. No one can do it for you. No one’s faith is good enough for your own faith. It is a matter of being brave enough to start looking at how great God is for your self. The next time you begin to stare at the mirror, look again. You are a unique creation of the Almighty God. To be fully you, you will have to give up your desire to be your own. Through our faith in God’s mercy, we become in Christ and through the power of the Holy Spirit and in obedience. We grow to a true knowledge as we follow in Christ’s image. Here on earth it is still hazy, but one day we will be fully known and what happiness that will be.

I'm not sure that it gets better than this:
Col 3:9-11 Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him-- a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all.

A Prayer for the Keeping of a Holy Lent

From a lenten devotional, I Thirst, by Stephen Cottrell.

Lord, bless me this Lent.
Lord, let me fast most truly and profitably,
by feeding in prayer on thy Spirit:
reveal me to myself
in the light of thy holiness.
Suffer me never to think
that I have knowledge enough to need no teaching,
wisdom enough to need no correction,
talents enough to need no grace,
goodness enough to need no progress,
humility enough to need no repentance,
devotion enough to need no quickening,
strength sufficient without the Spirit;
less, standing still, I fall back for evermore.
Shew me the desires that should be disciplined,
and sloths to be slain.
Shew me the omissions to be made up
and the habits to be mended.
And behind these, weaken, humble and annihilate in me
self-will, self-righteousness, self-satisfaction,
self-sufficiency, self-assertion, vainglory.
May my whole effort be to return to thee;
O make it serious and sincere
perservering and fruitful in result,
by the help of thy Holy Spirit
and to thy glory,
my Lord and my God.

Valentines Day, rated PG-13

Odd title for my first blog, but who cares. I had a long week, and since I was on my own, not doing anything particular, decided to go see Valentines Day this evening. Full disclosure: I have a ton to do this weekend, but was simply not going to be doing anything useful tonight, so wanted to have fun anyway.
I had a romantic dinner by myself in a very crowded Chipotle, looking at the all of the people hectically eating their dinners; guessing who were college students, and who were not. Remarkably, as I was pulling in, I looked up and saw a group of teenagers bowing their heads. A boy looked as if he was praying, and then they all put their heads back up and started eating. All I could think was, wow, who says religion is private now?
I got back in the car, drove around and around until I found a parking place, silently cursing those silly Cineplex people and mall designers who seem to think everyone has an inborn sense of direction to movie theater doors. I finally made it in and sat down to watch the Miley Cyrus trailer again. I'm not sure how many times I have now seen this trailer, but every time, I smile, and wonder if I have the guts to sit through a nicholas sparks novel with greg kinnear and miley cyrus leading on the silver screen? The verdict is still out, but if my brother is around, he might drag me in.
So, if you haven't seen Valentines Day, I don't know what to say. I'm sure it's rather obvious that most of the characters end up with someone because it is a valentines day movie and if that didn't happen, it wouldn't be america: the movie. Yes, the ending is a surprise, and wow, did Emma Roberts and Taylor Swift show restraint in not staying in the back of the delivery truck and the elevator, respectively. The last three words of the radio announcer, (I know Gary Marshall likes media announcers, he used them a lot in Runaway Bride,) and the last three words of the movie were "Let's get naked". There, I just ruined the plot for you. Not exactly. Most of the movie was pretty tasteful, in a "push the limit Anne Hathaway needing to prove to herself that she is not still in the Princess Diaries" kind of way. Anyone silly enough to date an Italian white collar criminal is not in Disney land anymore, though she remains in Wonderland, at least until the end of March.
For the past week, I have been sacrificing by eating a lot of Dove Promise Dark Chocolate for the sole purpose of unwrapping them and finding out what secrets are printed on the foil. The chocolate and the movie are research; research in what we expect and what we want in Love. The promises stamped on foil are just that - food safe ink that tries to make an important and poignant statement, but results in hitting my sardonic button. So far, I'm pretty sure my favorite crunched up foil is "You go, girl! You deserve this!" second only to "Sometimes breaking the rules is more fun". The thing is, people, (me excluded, of course,) actually read these things and believe them. In fact, my bag of chocolate sports aphorisms by real people, towns included. It saddens me to think that Teresa in KY sincerely sent this wish in, for others to believe.
When we leave out the depth and empty our beliefs of truth, we leave room for cheap images and chocolate. When "let's get naked" is the last thought of the night, we have missed out on the meaning of love.

I have no intention of profound depth in this blog. And I know it's cliched to say stuff like, "I'd like you to ponder this," but I would like to throw some things out, hopefully in a humorous and readable way, that might get you to start thinking about some of the truths in life. Because contrary to popular opinion, there is some truth left. Perhaps its not to be found in a bag of chocolates or in a A-list B movie, but they are still to be found, if you unwrap enough stuff.