Tonight my wife and I watch a movie called "Collateral Beauty." I normally am not inspired by what I like to affectionately call "chick flicks," but this time I took one for the team and I can tell you that God used this movie to inspire this post. So if you will, please indulge me for a bit while I explain in my own simple way...
What is collateral beauty?
The meaning I found was so simple yet so profound. The damage done by death is so dark and severe that sometimes a person cannot see the full picture because of the tragedy that has just befallen them. It may take the rest of their lives to see the purpose within that dark and ugly place that they currently find themselves slammed into the middle of but there is beauty and love there so strong that not even death can dishevel it. The beauty of this is that love continues even after and through death and the trauma brings us closer in our appreciation of love. The beauty that I speak of has an everlasting ripple effect on the rest of the survivors lives due to their new found appreciation for life and time. All becomes about the quality rather than the quantity that is given. Life is our teacher and love is the reward of a life well lived. When we can see love where darkness used to live then we can finally turn our lives into something so much better.
Ok...I have given you the book answer on what "collateral beauty" is now I will give you mine.
In the movie, the main character has lost his daughter due to a tragic illness. While I haven't experienced the gut wrenching loss of a child I do know what loss that close to your heart feels like and it isn't something I would place on my worst enemy. In our protagonists grief, he has written three letters, one to death, one to time, and one to love. And he had nothing nice to say to any of the three of them.
But what I found interesting is how I can take a secular movie and God can use it to inspire me to write about Him and His purposes.
The first letter he wrote was to death...
Death is something that each living, earthly being has to face at some time in their lives. There is no "magic" cure to make you live longer or a "fountain of youth" that will make you immortal. We are born dying. Simple biology. But we are more than that. While our bodies have a shelf life, our souls do to. As a Christian, I believe that we are all born, dead in our sins. This is due to the fall of the mankind all the way back to Adam and Eve. The moment that they sinned humankind was destined to die, not only physically but also spiritually. Their willful sin caused a "permanent" separation between us and God. And because He is holy and cannot tolerate sin, we couldn't be in His presence anymore thus the spiritual death began. But....God had a plan. (He always does!) God knew from the beginning of time that this sort of thing was going to go down and He planned ahead. It's funny how He does that but He's God so....God planned all the way back at creation to send His Son as a willing sacrifice for our sins thus defeating death. While He didn't grant us eternal earthly life He did give us the chance to gain eternal life with Him when we die.
His second letter was to time...
Well that is my take on "collateral beauty." I know I was long winded but God was pouring this out of my heart and my soul at 11pm on a Wednesday night and all because I watched a chick flick with my wife (sacrificial love guys!) and I made a commitment a while back that when God tells me to do something that is exactly what I am going to do, right then, because time is short, His love is endless, and death is only a heartbeat away.
What is collateral beauty?
The meaning I found was so simple yet so profound. The damage done by death is so dark and severe that sometimes a person cannot see the full picture because of the tragedy that has just befallen them. It may take the rest of their lives to see the purpose within that dark and ugly place that they currently find themselves slammed into the middle of but there is beauty and love there so strong that not even death can dishevel it. The beauty of this is that love continues even after and through death and the trauma brings us closer in our appreciation of love. The beauty that I speak of has an everlasting ripple effect on the rest of the survivors lives due to their new found appreciation for life and time. All becomes about the quality rather than the quantity that is given. Life is our teacher and love is the reward of a life well lived. When we can see love where darkness used to live then we can finally turn our lives into something so much better.
Ok...I have given you the book answer on what "collateral beauty" is now I will give you mine.
In the movie, the main character has lost his daughter due to a tragic illness. While I haven't experienced the gut wrenching loss of a child I do know what loss that close to your heart feels like and it isn't something I would place on my worst enemy. In our protagonists grief, he has written three letters, one to death, one to time, and one to love. And he had nothing nice to say to any of the three of them.
But what I found interesting is how I can take a secular movie and God can use it to inspire me to write about Him and His purposes.
The first letter he wrote was to death...
"Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned"
Romans 5:12 ESV
Death is something that each living, earthly being has to face at some time in their lives. There is no "magic" cure to make you live longer or a "fountain of youth" that will make you immortal. We are born dying. Simple biology. But we are more than that. While our bodies have a shelf life, our souls do to. As a Christian, I believe that we are all born, dead in our sins. This is due to the fall of the mankind all the way back to Adam and Eve. The moment that they sinned humankind was destined to die, not only physically but also spiritually. Their willful sin caused a "permanent" separation between us and God. And because He is holy and cannot tolerate sin, we couldn't be in His presence anymore thus the spiritual death began. But....God had a plan. (He always does!) God knew from the beginning of time that this sort of thing was going to go down and He planned ahead. It's funny how He does that but He's God so....God planned all the way back at creation to send His Son as a willing sacrifice for our sins thus defeating death. While He didn't grant us eternal earthly life He did give us the chance to gain eternal life with Him when we die.
His second letter was to time...
“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.”
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 ESV
Time is defined as "the indefinite continued progress of existence and events in the past, present, and future regarded as a whole." I would have to say that is a pretty way of describing something that is precious and can't be regained. Nowhere in history has a man been able to go back and change the past. Once the word has been said the bell can't be unrung. Once the deed is done, it can't be undone. Time wins. The writer of Ecclesiastes shows us that very thing in Chapter 3 with the very first verse when they show us that "For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven." And that last part is probably the most profound part. Time to us, here on earth, is completely different to time in Heaven. God is on His own clock. Not mine or yours. He works by His own schedule. While we count the seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, and years, God counts the millennia. 2nd Peter chapter 3 verse 8 tells us, "But do not overlook this one fact, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years , and a thousand years as one day." God's time and plans aren't ours. I have always been told that if you want to make God laugh just take a moment and tell Him your plans for your life.
And last but certainly not least, was his letter to love...
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life."
John 3:16 ESV
"By this we know love, that He laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers."
1st John 3:16 ESV
Love is defined as "an intense feeling of deep affection." I would say that isn't quite accurate. My definition sounds more like this, "an intense choice of deep affection." What God did wasn't any kind of feeling! What He did required more than just an "intense feeling." What God did for you and I required Him to make a choice. He could either allow us to live under the old law and have little to no actual contact with the being He created or He could choose to sacrifice His one and only Son for a race of beings that had chosen to turn their backs on Him. Put your place in His shoes for a minute...what choice would you make? The world or your only child? God made the ultimate choice and sacrifice when He decided to send His Son as a willing and living sacrifice for us. That is love. Real love. Not a Valentines Day, chick flick, sappy kind of love that fades away or wears off. That is a love that is sacrificial at its core and it is the kind of love that we should express to those we claim to love.
While I was watching this movie and thinking about the way I wanted to word this God opened my eyes to the ways that I have squandered my time, my love, and the things that death has taught me. In my thirty eight years I have learned that time is a friend to no man and it is one of the most valuable commodities on earth. I have learned that love can be squandered and ignored just like the cash that goes into a bank account. If I don't make deposits in either eventually I will go broke. And death taught me how valuable the first two are. I have been touched by death in a unique way but not in as such as it makes me special. It simply makes me more aware. There are others out there just like me, well maybe not "just" like me, but their experience is similar. It is through all of these experiences that we should allow God to use us to reach the world around us.
The next time you think you are being rushed and out of time...stop and thank God for giving you the time you have. The next time you start to get impatient with the lady in the drive through at Chick-fa-la or at the bank, stop and pray to God for the moment to talk to Him. The next time you are in a hurry to get out the door and your kid asks you to stop and watch a cartoon , watch the cartoon. Or when you come home worn out from the day, stop and play catch or have a makeover party with your daughter. Don't take advantage of time. It isn't our friend but we can manage it.
The next time you miss an opportunity to tell someone you love them go back immediately and let them know. There isn't always a second chance. Show them through acts of sacrificial love. Don't just tell them, show them how much you love them. It is the little things that make all the difference. If you leave early then flip the coffee pot on so they have a hot pot when they wake up. If you walk by the washing machine and its full, swap the laundry. Get a dry erase marker and leave a note on the bathroom mirror for them. (That works for kids and spouses too, especially scripture!) Drop a breakfast bar in their purse or surprise them with a trip to Chick-fa-la before school. It is the small things and the things we sacrifice that our loved ones remember. Show them. Don't just tell them.
The next time death comes calling, welcome it as a friend. Weird, I know. But I can tell you from personal experience, sitting on the bedside of someone you love and watching the light fade from their eyes while they slip over into Glory is an experience I wouldn't trade for anything. It is hard to explain but if you have children it is right up there but in reverse, if they know Jesus as their Lord and Savior. If they don't know Him, use the love and time that you have to tell them about who Jesus is and pray for them to come to a knowledge, acceptance, and an eternal relationship with Him. When a saint goes home, surely tears will be shed but I can tell you that the true worship is something to always be remembered.
Well that is my take on "collateral beauty." I know I was long winded but God was pouring this out of my heart and my soul at 11pm on a Wednesday night and all because I watched a chick flick with my wife (sacrificial love guys!) and I made a commitment a while back that when God tells me to do something that is exactly what I am going to do, right then, because time is short, His love is endless, and death is only a heartbeat away.
"It is well with my soul. It is well with my soul. It is well, it is well, it is well with my soul."
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