Life of Pride
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
I saw a good movie last night - Akeelah and the Bee. It is a very intelligent movie, very... aware. It is about a little 11-year-old black girl who manages to go to the Scripps-Howard National Spelling Bee. I think I will need to see it again, because I found myself in the unusual situation of having nothing in the movie to which I object. Nothing. The screenwriter, Doug Atchison, must be a Christian, because nobody but a Christian could write something so true. At one point, Akeelah reads this quote from Marianne Williamson out loud:
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
God's name, mentioned with respectful awe in a movie? When's the last time you saw that?
Actors include Laurence Fishburne, who was Morpheus in The Matrix. He did a stupendous job in his erudite, multifaceted part as Dr. Larraby, Akeelah's spelling coach. Akeelah herself was acted by Keke Palmer, whose talent never wavered. She was Akeelah. Normally as I watch movies, I am doing a two-part mental analysis of actor and part. When I forget to study the "actor" half, I know the person is doing a wonderful job.
Unfortunately, I was the only person in the theater at 7:30pm last night, although the movie only opened this past weekend. I checked on imdb.com, and it only grossed $6.1 million. Too bad; it is one of the best movies all-around that I have seen in a long time. Not flashy. Not a lot of special effects. But a true movie, on so many different levels. I think all Christians should support it, if they can.
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
God's name, mentioned with respectful awe in a movie? When's the last time you saw that?
Actors include Laurence Fishburne, who was Morpheus in The Matrix. He did a stupendous job in his erudite, multifaceted part as Dr. Larraby, Akeelah's spelling coach. Akeelah herself was acted by Keke Palmer, whose talent never wavered. She was Akeelah. Normally as I watch movies, I am doing a two-part mental analysis of actor and part. When I forget to study the "actor" half, I know the person is doing a wonderful job.
Unfortunately, I was the only person in the theater at 7:30pm last night, although the movie only opened this past weekend. I checked on imdb.com, and it only grossed $6.1 million. Too bad; it is one of the best movies all-around that I have seen in a long time. Not flashy. Not a lot of special effects. But a true movie, on so many different levels. I think all Christians should support it, if they can.
Comments:
Light only blinds a person who has been living in darkness... and then, only until he becomes used to it. :) I refuse to live in darkness myself because some people choose to remain there.
I see what you're saying. Lucifer wanted to shine brighter than God. Of course, he couldn't. I think the principle only really works when we shine God's light.
So that could be a problem with the quotation. It doesn't make it clear whose light we're shining. It's a little too humanist.
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So that could be a problem with the quotation. It doesn't make it clear whose light we're shining. It's a little too humanist.
