Monday, July 16, 2007
The Movie of Life
Growing up "mormon" involved plenty of storytelling and mythology. One of the popular myths propogated by my sunday school teachers was the idea that at the end of our lives we would see our life played back for us on a huge movie screen. There, for all to see, any "sins" or "mistakes" I had made would be broadcast. As a young person, this struck fear into my heart. I was so afraid of everyone seeing all the mistakes I had made. Fortunately, in my experiences in the church since then, I have not encountered this "myth" among the teachings of the lay ministry and this story seems to have faded away. Today, that "myth" popped into my mind and I have to admit I got a good laugh at how limited my understanding was a child and felt a little sad that an adult had such a limited understanding of the Gospel, of the Lord's love for us, and felt it necessary to pass on such unfounded teachings. Now, as I think about that "movie", I picture something completely different. I picture sitting with my family, friends, and loved ones in a comfy couch, enjoying a bowl of popcorn, and watching old home movies. I see footage of my brothers and sisters running and playing together as we grew up on the farm, I see myself completing the various milestones of young adulthood, I watch my children being born and the late, quiet nights we enjoyed together as they were so small and helpless. I watch movie after movie of our days, weeks, months, and years together. As I picture this type of "movie of life", I feel a great desire to create more and more wonderful memories so I can continue to lay them up in store for future reminiscing. Simple things such as playing Uno with Sam, attending the Muny with Logan, having great conversations with Zach....those memories are among the many I hope to continue to add to my life's "film". I feel extremely grateful for all the wonderful experiences that have been part of my life so far and look forward to adding more to my "footage". What do you think you will cherish the most about the "footage" of your life?
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4 comments:
You once asked me what I believed, and I just happened to come across this E.M. Forster essay that summed up at least some part of what I believe quite nicely ...
What I Believe
The above admittedly had little to do with your post, except that I think Forster is right about the importance of personal relationships, which efficiency-regimes tend to devalue as they divide citizens into leaders and followers, bossers and bossed, the loyal and the suspect ... and it is precisely these personal relationships that came to your mind when you considered the 'footage' you'd most enjoying seeing from your life's 'movie' ...
Thanks to Trish for letting me know about these cheezy Osmond Lyrics from the 70's...who knows....maybe it was their album "The Plan" that inspired the whole mormon myth of "the movie of your life".
Movie Man
Why did you do it, you should not make your mother cry
I'd say you blew it, yes it gave you one more try
Yet you laugh and you smile try to run away
Don't you know what you do you might regret someday
Cause there's one who has eyes on your evil ways
The movie man
Why do you do it, you're in for a big surprise
Oh, I never knew it, but honey there's no telling lies
You're in living colour, it's your picture show
Even what you're thinking everyone will know
That someday you'll have to take a stand
The movie man
You're in living colour, it's your picture show
Even what you're thinking everyone will know
That someday you'll have to take a stand
The movie man
Why did you do it, you should not make your mother cry
Chino...
I look forward to reading the Forster essay that to which you linked. It looks like a good read.
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