My time at home is quickly coming to an end, and it is apparent that my mom is aware of the sand quickly falling into the bottom of the hour glass. She and I have gone to lunches and dinners, had coffee at all hours of the day, and even stopped by unannounced to see a friend! My last Friday night at home, I was with my mom. We ate leftovers and watched a movie together.
The Help was an amazing movie! I think it was worth admitting that I teared up at the horrors illustrated on screen. The movie was filmed after the tremendous popularity of the novel with the same title. It is a frightening, funny and inspiring story set in the deep southern city of Jackson, Mississippi during the not-so-civil 1960s.
I was truly hurt by the thought that people were taught so horrendously…particularly in my beloved South. I have seen civil rights films before, read the stories and heard personal accounts; yet this Friday night, watching this movie really touched me. I am gearing up for an international missions trip, meant to help, “the least of these.” Seeing women shunned, abused and overworked by otherwise entitled women made my heart hurt. I LOVE people: talking, listening, engaging, and watching people. I could people watch all day! I could encounter strangers all day. These are experiences I relish. Yet, the eye-opening movie brought a new perspective to the secret lives, the secret fears people harbor, the utterances otherwise never heard.
With the conclusion of the movie I felt a little better. The women were able to share their story even if unable to escape their bondage. It was a small but critical step. I hope that during the next eleven months I am able to inspire others to action, build courage and instill a strong faith in the Lord’s sovereignty in those I encounter. It is a not impossible, though not easy. Many people have been through a world of horrors I know not of, or confined by bondage I’ve never considered. It will be a learning experience; it will be a growth opportunity for all.
The Help was a wonderful story…it just came several decades too late. I hope that I don’t wait to share THE MOST important story; that I blog the personal stories as I witness them and that change can start immediately, change that will break the chains of bondage.
"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasres in heaven, where neither moth not rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Matthew 6:19-21 ESV
