You Are More Than Your Past

I saw "Saving Mr. Banks" yesterday with my youngest son.  If you haven't seen it--you should.  It has everything you want in a good movie--great performances, sets, costumes and backgrounds, good music and an interesting story.  I was particularly interested in this film because Mary Poppins was the first movie I saw in the theater; I even got a Mary Poppins doll for Christmas one year, when I was about five years old.  I've always loved Mary Poppins--I especially wanted her ability to snap her fingers and make things put themselves away when I was younger!

The most interesting thing about this film is the depiction of how the past influences the present.  Both Walt Disney and P.L. Travers had issues with their family or origin--and both were influenced by them.  This is an especially powerful film about the influence of fathers on their families--hence the title of the film.  I always have liked what they call in English class dynamic characters--people, who in the course of a book, or a film, change for the better.  This is best illustrated in Mr. Banks in the Mary Poppins movie--he rightly changes his focus to be on his family and children, and, in the end, it also improves his career.  In "Saving Mr. Banks", the turning point in the author's acceptance of the film is this song--it's also the turning point of the film. 

 

I think every dad should see the movie--it's a sobering reminder that we all influence our families--for the good, and in ways that aren't as positive--every day.  As a teacher, I can tell you that I see the influences--positive and negative--every day in the classroom.  The next time you think you aren't making headway with your kids, or that you aren't important, remember this song.

"Saving Mr. Banks" is full of dynamic characters--including Walt Disney and the author P.L. Travers.  One conversation of the movie stuck with me--Walt Disney was telling Mrs. Travers about delivering newspapers in Kansas City when he was eight years old.  He painted a bleak picture--cold, tired, wet, and, in general a most difficult circumstance.  But then he said he wanted to remember something different--that what he had learned from reading the Mary Poppins books was forgiveness, and the ability to make hard things into something beautiful. 

This is exactly what Christ offers us--the ability to trade beauty for ashes.  Through his forgiveness of us, we can forgive ourselves and our origins.  He then can take all of our hard circumstances--the pain, the disappointment, the heartache, and turn it into something good.  He can use these things so that we can help others, so that we can further His kingdom---He really does make everything beautiful in its time.  But we have to let Him do that.  Many times, we, like Emma Thompson's character in "Saving Mr. Banks," we hold on to our hurt, and with it we hurt others.  We refuse to let go and let it turn into something beautiful--and we are the ones who suffer.  So the question today is--what will you do with your past?  What will I do with mine?  Do we hold onto it, and let it poison our relationships--or do we give it to Christ and let him use it for something beautiful?   Giving it to Him, I've found, is a gradual process--and something we have to do daily.  It's a struggle, much like the struggle in the film--but the end result is worth it.