The Story of All of Us
I sat down on Saturday night to watch a chick flick, with some other chicks, and after tossing up our various options we went for The Story of Us.
It is the tale of one couple's marriage, seen from about 15 years after the “big day”. I watched on as the whole relationship disintegrated literally before our eyes. About halfway through, I turned to my friend and said “It's kind of scary isn't it...”. Scary because of how ordinary the whole scenario was and how easily it seemed like it could be any of us on the screen.
What made me tense throughout the whole film was just observing at how many points there was a decision, be it ever so small, that was made—a decision between working at the relationship and building the marriage, or giving it up as all too hard. I'd wait to see the way each conversation or encounter went, and then sigh when it fell to pieces, as one person or the other dragged up a past grievance, or railed about various inequalities, or just acted like they couldn't be bothered anymore. The state of the relationship was very apparently the result of years of small, “bad” decisions.
The movie made me think again about how living a life for Jesus, and in growing likeness of him, is the product of a million little decisions every day: do I snap now, or do I remind myself “love is patient” and be kind; do I stroll around Cremorne Point, looking at the magnificent houses with water views and luxury yachts, and think “some people are lucky—wish it was me” or take stock and remind myself that “we take nothing with us that we carry in our hands” (Eccl 5:15); do I invite that awkward, but lonely, person to join me and my friends in an outing or decide it's just more fun without the bother...
The consequences may not always be as big as a saved or failed marriage, but our obedience and godliness depends on the small decisions, as well as the big. The good news is that the very power that raised Christ from the dead is available, and indeed necessary, to make us holy in all these things; and we can and should pray for that (Eph 1:15-20, 3:14-21). Don Carson, in his great book A Call to Spiritual Reformation elaborates on the prayer of Ephesians 3:14-21 as a “plea for power—power to be holy, power to think, act and talk in ways utterly pleasing to Christ, power to strengthen moral resolve, power to walk in transparent gratitude to God, power to be humble, power to be discerning, power to be obedient and trusting, power to grow in conformity to Jesus Christ”. The couple from The Story of Us could use some of that, as could we all.