Good morning…
I enjoy periodic movie nights with my close friend. Last month we saw Manchester by the Sea and last night we experienced Moonlight. Both movies are heavy and heartbreaking, painful and poignant, raw and redemptive. After each movie, my friend and I talked for hours, untangling jumbled thoughts, expressing myriad emotions, connecting insightful dots.
“The purpose of art is to lay bare the questions which have been hidden by the answers,” says James Baldwin, American poet, novelist, and social critic.
Easy, buttoned-up answers wallpaper the comfort zone of the world. Hard, life-altering questions make us uncomfortable, forcing us to converse with God. Core questions arise from these two movies. What does one do when there seems no way out? How does genuine love survive unbearable loss and excruciating pain, crippling addiction and lonely isolation? With the moon illuminating the ocean’s endless rhythm and the ground slowly thawing after winter’s snowy freeze, how do we sense God’s loving presence healing life’s deepest scars?
Those wrestling with difficult questions unearth their need for God.
They tunnel through the rock;
their eyes see all its treasures.
They search the sources of the rivers
and bring hidden things to light (Job 28:10-11, NIV).
I treasure God’s lifelong process of bringing hidden things to healing light.
…Sue…
P.S. If you watch these challenging movies, unravel your feelings with a close friend and be on the lookout for our ever-present God.
