From "Precious" to Bethlehem

Shane and I went to see the movie "Precious." I have been waiting to see this movie since way before it came out. I was counting on a touchy, feely emotional movie, but that isn't what I got. The language, violence and heartbreak in that movie was so overpowering I sat through the entire movie in shock.

The way the mother in the movie could start a sentence with Precious and then go into some of the most vile verbal and physical attacks stunned me. I wanted to ask her if she had any idea what Precious meant. If you name your child Precious didn't you think she was precious? Not that it would have been any more okay if she had been calling her daughter by any other name, because your child's name should be precious to you regardless of what it is. But the contrast between what that word means and how that mother acted was one of the most horrific things I have seen.

For those that haven't seen the movie I will try not to ruin it for you too much (lol), but I had heard that there were some complaints about the ending. Another friend shared that based on her experience in dealing with inner city teenagers that the ending was realistic. I read this before watching the movie so I waited through the whole thing to see this ending I had heard so much about. It wasn't a fairy tale, everything is going to be okay ending, but it was very empowering from my perspective.

Later the same day that I saw this movie I went with a friend to "Bethlehem Revisited", a live, re-enactment of Bethlehem on the night Jesus was born. It was cold and crowded so I didn't have a super enlightening, warm and fuzzy aha moment while actually participating in the event, but later when I was warm and quiet thinking about the day I thought that while no one would probably ever plan these two events as an ideal day, it worked out that they went together perfectly. Even with abuse in my background (minor compared to what Precious endured but still significant in my life), the movie reminded me just how sick and twisted life on this earth can be. The reality that we have young, impressionable children who should be being nurtured and cherished going through such a hell that an adult sits paralyzed in shock just watching a movie about it is overwelming and heartbreaking at the same time.

But the reality and the hope is that the answers do lie in that precious and amazing baby that was born in Bethlehem all those years ago. The fact that Jesus would be born as one of us as always been an amazing thing to me. I know he went through agony and died an awful death on the cross for our sins (and I do not want to downplay that or make it seem unimportant - it is amazing beyond words that He did that for us), but when I think of Jesus living in heaven with God knowing everything - the past, the present and the future and yet still being willing to come here as a little baby and live here for all those years as a human before facing that awful death on the cross, I am so thankful.

It wasn't a quick or easy answer to conquering sin. If it had been me, and I had been willing to face the cross (big if but work with me here) I still would have asked for an easier plan. Think about what Jesus was leaving and what he was giving up. If one of us today is asked to die for someone and we step up to the challenge and do it, it is a sacrifice and heroic. But we have never lived in the awesome, complete splendor of heaven. While we want the years we have left, they are not perfect without blemish. Jesus gave up perfection to live in squalor. I would have timed it down to the second. Okay God I will do this, but I should be able to live up here until 5 minutes before time to go to the cross, can we hurry that up a little and I can be back here in heaven in less than 24 hours.

But that did not fulfill the plan. The plan took each and every day, month and year that Jesus was on this earth. There were multiple parts of the plan where each part had to come together perfectly for the redemption plan to work. Yes, the cross was the ultimate sacrifice and the most horrenduous part of the plan. The pain, agony and rejection that Jesus went through was more than words, pictures or even movies could ever portray. But each day that Jesus walked on this earth instead of the streets of heaven were also a sacrifice and just as important to the overall plan.

So how does the movie "Precious" and "Bethlehem Re-Visited" come together? They remind us how awful the world we are living in can be when people are living under the bondage of sin and the results of that sin. But as surely as God laid out a plan for our salvation He also laid out a plan to help each and every hurting person in this world. When the circumstances are so awful that I close my eyes and sometimes even my heart so that I am not hurt or overwelmed by what I am seeing, hearing or feeling God never even blinks.

We want to believe that there are people in power who could just sweep in and fix all of the problems we have in this world. And trust me I love it when someone with huge amounts of money comes in and provides resources that help people who are hurting and in need. But the reality is that there is never going to be a fairy tale ending to the suffering of those we love and those who we share this earth with. Even Jesus's return is not a fairy tale ending - God has been planning that for years and people have been working and doing their parts so that the pieces of God's plan can come together.

I want to be like Precious. When I am looking in the face of my problems, and I have to make a decision I want to say to those problems "I never realized what you were before, but I do now." I want to look at anyone or anything that is offering me an easy way out or a shortcut and say "You can't handle my problems." And I want to pick up those things that God has entrusted me with and walk with my head held high knowing that each and every day I can seek God's power and his grace to find the strength to be responsible for and do the things that He has given me to do.

And if that last paragraph doesn't make sense - watch the movie and then think about the true meaning of this season - the birth of Jesus. After doing those two things - I think you will get it!