Have you ever wondered “Wow, am I ever going to see the beauty through all this mess?” If you have, I can promise you that you are not alone.
In the movie ‘Collateral Beauty’, actor Will Smith plays the part of Howard Inlet, a man who writes a letter to three abstracts. Three abstracts that cannot be controlled by humans. In fact the three abstacts are things that we are all ultimately going to encounter in our lives.
These three abstracts are: Love, Time and Death. Howard wrote to them in a time where he was grieving the loss of his daughter. He wrote to Love, Time, and Death as if they were going to respond to him.
Here is what stood out in all his letters to Love, Time and Death.
Love
“Goodbye!”
In a time of grief it’s easy to let go of that which you love and who you love. You just said goodbye to the most precious person in your life. How do you possibly love again?
I love that in the movie, Keira Knightly, the actress who plays the part of “Love”, tells Smith’s character that love is the very fabric which holds everything together. I agree. How do you live and not love?
How do you love and not know Jesus? I believe that Jesus had to give up many things in order for you to know love. A love that is in its purest form. It’s not fractured or confusing. It’s a love that saves and protects.
It’s a love eagerly waiting to greet you through pain and through joyous times.
Time
“They say you heal all wounds, but they don’t talk about how you destroy all that’s good in the world. How you turn beauty into ash. Well, you’re nothing more than petrified wood to me. You’re dead tissue that won’t decompose. You’re nothing!”
I would say that at this point Howard Inlet was really angry. All he wanted was more time with his daughter. I guess that’s what we all need. It’s time!
He speaks about time decomposing and it turning beautiful things into ash. Yet to God, time is the one thing that He sees as a tiny fraction of our lives. He says that ife is but a vapor. So should we consider time in everything we do? Yes! Spend it wisely, use it appropriately. It helps balance out what the important things are and what aren’t.
How do you spend your time?
Jesus often spent with the ones He loved. Knowing that He had much to teach them and a lot of love to give them.
Death
“Dear death, you travel with so much methodology. You cause so much pain, inspire such fear, but you’re a paper tiger to me. You’re just pathetic and powerless middle management. You don’t even have the authority to make a simple trade.”
I would do anything to switch places with the ones that I have lost along the way. I guess we don’t really want to feel pain. Or maybe it’s a feeling that we know all too well. In any case there is no way we would ever be able to trade places.
Jesus, however, made this trade. He died so that you may have life, and life in its fullest. So morn, but know that one day you will see that person again. Death isn’t final, it’s just a new beginning in much more glorious place.
I pray today that you cherish the ones you love! Use the time that you have wisely! And have no regrets in the end!