On the world race when you have free time it is a valued commodity. There is many ways to spend that free time. One of the first is getting alone time and worshiping or reading. Another is watching a movie on your laptop. It is nice being able to do that. You get the opportunity to focus on the movie and zone out for a little while. Even when you do that you cannot help by think about how things in the movie apply to your life, like you do anything else. Okay, maybe that is just me. I am forever analyzing things. Movies do that for me in general. The movie that most recently did that for me is the movie “The Help”. My mom and sister told me to watch it a long time ago and I finally got the chance. If you have not seen it I recommend it. Watching it made me think about how my childhood.
My mom went back to school while I was little and got her degree in education. While she was doing this she usually had multiple jobs. After starting to teach she still had to at times to provide have more than one job. When I was in maybe middle school she started house cleaning at house in county. It turned out to be the house of a classmate of mine. I remember at the time being really worried she would tell people at school she never did. I also remember thinking my mom can do so much better than this. Even though I still believe that, that was not what it was about. It was about her doing whatever it took to provide for her family.
In the movie you see the maids doing the same thing throughout the movie. They took all kinds of abuse. They did that because they knew that is what it took to take care of their families. So they were willing to do what it took to put food on the table. The main character Aibleen found out she was a really great writer. As you watch the movie you see she is a very smart woman. There is no doubt she was capable of being more than a maid. However, it was what it took to provide for her family. She also did not allow it to get her down. She found joy in being a maid and taking care of the children entrusting to her. It has always been the same for my mom. It would have been very easy for her to be down because she had to work more than one job, but instead she brought joy to both. That has taught me to have joy in all things.
The movie was a nice reminder of what a parent is willing to do for their children. Sacrificing is really the only option you have as a parent to do it right. I never truly forget of all the sacrifices she made, but it nice to get a reminder. When someone sacrificing so much for you realize that you could never replay them. The only option you have is to do your best to never let that person down. To show them that what they did is not in vain, while at the same time knowing they never did it because of that but just simply because they love you. Knowing that gives your life purpose.
That same kind of sacrifice was made for us on Calvary on an even grander scale. Take a look at Matthew 26:42 Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, "My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done." Jesus asked the Father for another way and knew there was not one. So he took up the cross and did what had to be done for us to rejoin the family. He took it up because of the deep love He had, and has for us. I know for me knowing that shows me that my life has purpose and meaning. He saw something in me worth saving. So I want to live my life to show Him that sacrifice was not in vain. And He did not do it for that, but I choose to serve Him by doing that to show my love for him. To live my life as a Thank you note to the one who choose to be, the Help.
