A Worthy Legacy
I'm writing this entry on the heels of watching the movie Premonition with Anna Kate. It came out sometime last year, I believe, so you've probably had a chance to see it. Therefore, I don't feel at all guilty about spoiling all you 1-2 readers of this silly blog.
Sandra Bullock's character (yes I only remember the actress, not her character. What do you want from me?) starts having weird dream premonitions about the impending death of her husband. In any ordinary movie with this kind of premise, you would expect the main thrust to be on Sandra's attempts to figure out her premonitions, then use them to change the course of her husband's grim fate. And indeed, 3/4 of the way through, the movie appears to be headed in that general direction.
But right at the climax, things take an unexpected turn.
We find out that Sandra's husband was ... well, not exactly in line for a halo in the afterlife. In the days leading up to his fatal car accident, he'd planned to cheat on his wife with an office assistant. Apparently, the way things originally unfold prior to Sandra's premonitions, his road trip would have taken him to a getaway with her out of town. He'd even arranged to be taken off insurance with his family (but made sure they would be provided for without him).
But then Sandra's premonitions make her wise to his intentions. She can see the signs. Aloofness. Inability to look her and her daughters in the eyes and tell them he loves them. All of a sudden, a sudden death like his doesn't seem as heart-wrenching as it otherwise might when she considers the years of pain, disappointment, and heartbreak her little girls would be spared (assuming she wouldn't tell them herself, which we are left to ponder).
Bitter as she is over learning of his intent, she still chooses to love him. Even urges his daughters to love him too. And it pricks his conscience. So much so that, mere minutes before his death, he calls up the office assistant and tells her that he can't go through with the affair.
Then he calls his wife. They reconcile. And then a big rig slams into his car, taking his life.
So the whole point behind the premonitions, it turns out, wasn't to save the husband's life. In my opinion, this was a pretty bold, and powerful, choice on the film crew's part, and sadly, I doubt a lot of people were pleased with it. They probably felt the film, after building up the suspense for so long, should've let Sandra's husband live and were rather cheated that it ended on a "downer."
But what good would it have accomplished had the husband lived, but not changed? For all that we know, he would've gone through with the affair, and Sandra would've been left to pick up the pieces of their broken household and, somehow, tell their girls the awful truth about their Daddy.
She still chose to use their "last days," knowing what would happen, loving the man she married. It made me think of Paul's charge in Romans 12:17 -21
"Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."
Yes, Premonition seems to end on a down note because the husband still dies at the end. But by reminding him of the covenant he made when he became a husband, Sandra ensured he would leave a greater legacy behind. The point wasn't to save the man. It was to save the relationship. A concept that Jesus reminds me of constantly.
I want my legacy to be that of a good Christ-follower, a model husband, and a loving father. But when I allow myself to lose focus and take my eyes off my Savior, I become someone I no longer like. I get lazy, take shortcuts, and lose myself in my own selfishness. I neglect little things, and I lose sight of the needs and feelings of my life partner, not to mention my parents, friends, close acquaintances ... the list goes on and on.
The worst part is when it takes others to knock me over the head, so to speak, and bring me to my senses. Amazing how I can talk the talk so well, project the image of a disciplined follower of Christ, and then be such a screw-up in my own life, often without even realizing it. What scares me sometimes is not knowing just how much I've actually said or done to hurt people that they don't tell me for fear of hurting my feelings. I'll take my feelings getting hit with a two-by-four any day over blindly continuing wrong behavior.
It's times like those that I can understand how Peter felt when he was in the presence of Jesus. One time, he hid his face from Him out of shame over his own sinfulness. Another time, he felt hurt and stricken when Jesus asked if Peter loved Him (on the heels of denying Him three times the night of His capture). Standing in the midst of One who loves unconditionally, Who perfectly embodies that love, and all you can see are reminders of your own flaws and your own inequities.
That's why my constant prayer is for God to work on my heart. Becoming the man He wants me to be is a process. I make great strides, then I slip up and fall hard. It's an unending journey until the day He calls me home.
My only hope is that, like Sandra's husband, I can leave behind a legacy worthy of remembrance.
Sandra Bullock's character (yes I only remember the actress, not her character. What do you want from me?) starts having weird dream premonitions about the impending death of her husband. In any ordinary movie with this kind of premise, you would expect the main thrust to be on Sandra's attempts to figure out her premonitions, then use them to change the course of her husband's grim fate. And indeed, 3/4 of the way through, the movie appears to be headed in that general direction.
But right at the climax, things take an unexpected turn.
We find out that Sandra's husband was ... well, not exactly in line for a halo in the afterlife. In the days leading up to his fatal car accident, he'd planned to cheat on his wife with an office assistant. Apparently, the way things originally unfold prior to Sandra's premonitions, his road trip would have taken him to a getaway with her out of town. He'd even arranged to be taken off insurance with his family (but made sure they would be provided for without him).
But then Sandra's premonitions make her wise to his intentions. She can see the signs. Aloofness. Inability to look her and her daughters in the eyes and tell them he loves them. All of a sudden, a sudden death like his doesn't seem as heart-wrenching as it otherwise might when she considers the years of pain, disappointment, and heartbreak her little girls would be spared (assuming she wouldn't tell them herself, which we are left to ponder).
Bitter as she is over learning of his intent, she still chooses to love him. Even urges his daughters to love him too. And it pricks his conscience. So much so that, mere minutes before his death, he calls up the office assistant and tells her that he can't go through with the affair.
Then he calls his wife. They reconcile. And then a big rig slams into his car, taking his life.
So the whole point behind the premonitions, it turns out, wasn't to save the husband's life. In my opinion, this was a pretty bold, and powerful, choice on the film crew's part, and sadly, I doubt a lot of people were pleased with it. They probably felt the film, after building up the suspense for so long, should've let Sandra's husband live and were rather cheated that it ended on a "downer."
But what good would it have accomplished had the husband lived, but not changed? For all that we know, he would've gone through with the affair, and Sandra would've been left to pick up the pieces of their broken household and, somehow, tell their girls the awful truth about their Daddy.
She still chose to use their "last days," knowing what would happen, loving the man she married. It made me think of Paul's charge in Romans 12:17 -21
"Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."
Yes, Premonition seems to end on a down note because the husband still dies at the end. But by reminding him of the covenant he made when he became a husband, Sandra ensured he would leave a greater legacy behind. The point wasn't to save the man. It was to save the relationship. A concept that Jesus reminds me of constantly.
I want my legacy to be that of a good Christ-follower, a model husband, and a loving father. But when I allow myself to lose focus and take my eyes off my Savior, I become someone I no longer like. I get lazy, take shortcuts, and lose myself in my own selfishness. I neglect little things, and I lose sight of the needs and feelings of my life partner, not to mention my parents, friends, close acquaintances ... the list goes on and on.
The worst part is when it takes others to knock me over the head, so to speak, and bring me to my senses. Amazing how I can talk the talk so well, project the image of a disciplined follower of Christ, and then be such a screw-up in my own life, often without even realizing it. What scares me sometimes is not knowing just how much I've actually said or done to hurt people that they don't tell me for fear of hurting my feelings. I'll take my feelings getting hit with a two-by-four any day over blindly continuing wrong behavior.
It's times like those that I can understand how Peter felt when he was in the presence of Jesus. One time, he hid his face from Him out of shame over his own sinfulness. Another time, he felt hurt and stricken when Jesus asked if Peter loved Him (on the heels of denying Him three times the night of His capture). Standing in the midst of One who loves unconditionally, Who perfectly embodies that love, and all you can see are reminders of your own flaws and your own inequities.
That's why my constant prayer is for God to work on my heart. Becoming the man He wants me to be is a process. I make great strides, then I slip up and fall hard. It's an unending journey until the day He calls me home.
My only hope is that, like Sandra's husband, I can leave behind a legacy worthy of remembrance.
posted by david @ 10:26 PM
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