ONCE
Tonight I am particularly in the mood to discuss a the theme of sacrifice, but not simply any sacrifice. I am interested now in worthwhile or necessary sacrifices. I am going to be using the film ONCE, an Irish Independent film whose soundtrack won an Academy Award. The film itself is beautiful and moving particularly because of the music which often competes with the characters themselves for the viewers attention.
This will be brief. How many times do we sacrifice the wrong things. Or how often do we give things up for the wrong reasons, i.e. to appear more spiritual or to attempt to make God love us more, which is impossible. This kind of sacrifice is ridiculous. As ridiculous as giving up something that is easy for us to give up. For some it is easy to give a tithe bc their financial situation is solid. It does not cost them. Some people give up cable or secular music as I have at one time or another bc it was an easy thing to do. Others this is not possible or completely unnecessary.
Nevertheless, there are some things that cost us big time that we are forced to give up. If we are sexually active with someone we aren't married to, the Holy Spirit is leading and calling us to give that up to him bc it is destructive to us and wrong. If we love someone who belongs to someone else, the Spirit again calls us to lay that down. The world does not fully understand this type of sacrifice. Everyone knows adultery is grounds for divorce, a breaking of the marriage legal "contract", but the message we get from our culture is.....If people are meant for each other and they want to be with each other they should go for it...be courageous....let go of inhibitions...don't worry about breaking a contract bc we sometimes make mistakes...
Most films echo sentiments and postulations such as these. But Once does not. Once says, wow we have this amazing connection which is way beyond physical attraction. We just met, but we feel each other's emotions and are inside each other's head. We would be perfectly fulfilled if we spent the rest of our lives being together and making something beautiful with our music and our hearts. But then they don't. One is married and has a baby. They both walk away to reconcile painful broken relationships.
I have no idea why they chose this ending, but it is so precious and so powerful. And that is all.
This will be brief. How many times do we sacrifice the wrong things. Or how often do we give things up for the wrong reasons, i.e. to appear more spiritual or to attempt to make God love us more, which is impossible. This kind of sacrifice is ridiculous. As ridiculous as giving up something that is easy for us to give up. For some it is easy to give a tithe bc their financial situation is solid. It does not cost them. Some people give up cable or secular music as I have at one time or another bc it was an easy thing to do. Others this is not possible or completely unnecessary.
Nevertheless, there are some things that cost us big time that we are forced to give up. If we are sexually active with someone we aren't married to, the Holy Spirit is leading and calling us to give that up to him bc it is destructive to us and wrong. If we love someone who belongs to someone else, the Spirit again calls us to lay that down. The world does not fully understand this type of sacrifice. Everyone knows adultery is grounds for divorce, a breaking of the marriage legal "contract", but the message we get from our culture is.....If people are meant for each other and they want to be with each other they should go for it...be courageous....let go of inhibitions...don't worry about breaking a contract bc we sometimes make mistakes...
Most films echo sentiments and postulations such as these. But Once does not. Once says, wow we have this amazing connection which is way beyond physical attraction. We just met, but we feel each other's emotions and are inside each other's head. We would be perfectly fulfilled if we spent the rest of our lives being together and making something beautiful with our music and our hearts. But then they don't. One is married and has a baby. They both walk away to reconcile painful broken relationships.
I have no idea why they chose this ending, but it is so precious and so powerful. And that is all.
Comments
Post a Comment