I know, I know; here I go drawing something spiritual out of another movie. As Greg Kinnear's Frank says to Meg Ryan's Kathleen in 'You've Got Mail', I just can't help myself!
So the movie reference this week is 'The Fault in Our Stars'; about a young girl Hazel who has cancer. She seems to be coping, but worries about her parents. She ends up going to a support group for people with cancer and meets Augustus who seems to be past his cancer. Tears and laughter follow them through their tale until the end (spoiler alert if you haven't seen the movie), Augustus dies. At the end of the movie Hazel gets a copy of an emial that Augustus had sent someone and it says' "Hazel was not loved widely, but she was loved deeply". This coming from a young man who felt that he had to leave his mark on the world in a large way to validate his meaning.
I watched this movie and came away with the fact that most of us will not be loved and adored by the masses. In fact most of us have maybe a handful of friends who are available at 3 in the morning if there is a crisis. Most of us probably do at times feel that we are alone and forgotten and have never made that much of an impact.
Don't let Facebook and all the other social media machines fool you; those 527 'friends' you have are not really your friends. Some of them may be, but the majority just want to up their numbers so they can feel important. Don't we all want to feel that way? That we matter. So we seek to be loved widely when we only have to realize that through our relationship with Jesus, we are loved deeply.
The title to the movie comes from a quote from Shakespeare's 'Julius Caesar'. It says, "The fault, dear Brutus is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings". Meaning that we alone are responsible for our lives. The movie takes it the opposite way in that sometimes bad things happen and they just can't be avoided. So either way, we are just left up to our own devices and life is a crap shoot. For those of us who follow the perfect Son, the fault does not lie in our stars, but rather our hope rests in Him.
When I realize that in Jesus I am loved deeply, I can then in turn love others more deeply. Because His love fills me, it will overflow to those around me, and therein lies the magic. If we love others more deeply, and share the love of Christ with them, they realize that they are valuable for just that reason; that they are loved. Not for what they do. Not for how widespread their circle of friends is. They are loved because they are His.
So what we need to do is not to look to the stars as a sign of our insignificance, but rather look at them and behold the glory of the one Who made them. The same one Who created the glimmering stars, the luminous moon and the brilliance of the sun hand-fashioned you. He knows you intimately, warts and all. And He still cares for you passionately, loves you deeply. Always.
Okay.
So the movie reference this week is 'The Fault in Our Stars'; about a young girl Hazel who has cancer. She seems to be coping, but worries about her parents. She ends up going to a support group for people with cancer and meets Augustus who seems to be past his cancer. Tears and laughter follow them through their tale until the end (spoiler alert if you haven't seen the movie), Augustus dies. At the end of the movie Hazel gets a copy of an emial that Augustus had sent someone and it says' "Hazel was not loved widely, but she was loved deeply". This coming from a young man who felt that he had to leave his mark on the world in a large way to validate his meaning.
I watched this movie and came away with the fact that most of us will not be loved and adored by the masses. In fact most of us have maybe a handful of friends who are available at 3 in the morning if there is a crisis. Most of us probably do at times feel that we are alone and forgotten and have never made that much of an impact.
Don't let Facebook and all the other social media machines fool you; those 527 'friends' you have are not really your friends. Some of them may be, but the majority just want to up their numbers so they can feel important. Don't we all want to feel that way? That we matter. So we seek to be loved widely when we only have to realize that through our relationship with Jesus, we are loved deeply.
The title to the movie comes from a quote from Shakespeare's 'Julius Caesar'. It says, "The fault, dear Brutus is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings". Meaning that we alone are responsible for our lives. The movie takes it the opposite way in that sometimes bad things happen and they just can't be avoided. So either way, we are just left up to our own devices and life is a crap shoot. For those of us who follow the perfect Son, the fault does not lie in our stars, but rather our hope rests in Him.
When I realize that in Jesus I am loved deeply, I can then in turn love others more deeply. Because His love fills me, it will overflow to those around me, and therein lies the magic. If we love others more deeply, and share the love of Christ with them, they realize that they are valuable for just that reason; that they are loved. Not for what they do. Not for how widespread their circle of friends is. They are loved because they are His.
So what we need to do is not to look to the stars as a sign of our insignificance, but rather look at them and behold the glory of the one Who made them. The same one Who created the glimmering stars, the luminous moon and the brilliance of the sun hand-fashioned you. He knows you intimately, warts and all. And He still cares for you passionately, loves you deeply. Always.
Okay.
