My husband hates "pop-ups" in movies... You know, the sudden appearance of something scary that makes your heart pump with adrenaline. He hates those things! That's why my husband hates the movie, "Signs."
But Signs is my favorite movie, because I see its spiritual implications.
Written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, the 2002 film starring Mel Gibson and Joaquin Phoenix portrayed the invasion of Earth by aliens from outer space with designs on consuming the planet. The main character, played by Mel Gibson, is a Christian minister going through a crisis of faith after the tragic death of his wife that left him to raise his two young children alone. In the middle of his personal trials, the family is faced with the reality that they are threatened by aliens who have landed in their area. Joaquin Phoenix plays the main character's single brother who has moved onto the family's farm to help his brother and the children.
Intertwined in the story are little tidbits -- signs. But they are not signs of extraterrestrial life. As it turns out, the alien invasion is a side issue to the true meaning of the story. The signs are things most people would consider failures or weaknesses. The little girl's compulsion to taste a glass of water and then set it aside, the little boy's crippling asthma, the brother's baseball prowess that seemed to lack any common sense about when to swing at a ball and when to let it go by.
The clue to the meaning of the signs came in the most tragic event of the minister's life -- the death of his wife. Accidentally struck by a neighbor's car (played by M. Night Shyamalan himself, in a cameo appearance), she is miraculously preserved, wedged between the car and a tree, until her husband arrives to hear her last words. The words mean nothing to him at the time, only adding to his grief through their meaninglessness.
But, at the end, he realizes that God was speaking through his wife's parting message. And it gave meaning and life to all those "failures" that plagued the family. They were saving graces, after all.
I still get chills whenever I think about this movie, because it reminds me that some of the most annoying or unimportant aspects of our life can circle around to save us at a crucial moment, and that's when we see the "signs" that God was at work, all along, to do us good.
Scripture assures us that the steps of the righteous are ordered of the Lord (Psalm 37:23).
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)
If you haven't seen it already, when you get a chance, watch the movie, "Signs." That is, if you can handle the pop-ups.
But Signs is my favorite movie, because I see its spiritual implications.
Written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, the 2002 film starring Mel Gibson and Joaquin Phoenix portrayed the invasion of Earth by aliens from outer space with designs on consuming the planet. The main character, played by Mel Gibson, is a Christian minister going through a crisis of faith after the tragic death of his wife that left him to raise his two young children alone. In the middle of his personal trials, the family is faced with the reality that they are threatened by aliens who have landed in their area. Joaquin Phoenix plays the main character's single brother who has moved onto the family's farm to help his brother and the children.
Intertwined in the story are little tidbits -- signs. But they are not signs of extraterrestrial life. As it turns out, the alien invasion is a side issue to the true meaning of the story. The signs are things most people would consider failures or weaknesses. The little girl's compulsion to taste a glass of water and then set it aside, the little boy's crippling asthma, the brother's baseball prowess that seemed to lack any common sense about when to swing at a ball and when to let it go by.
The clue to the meaning of the signs came in the most tragic event of the minister's life -- the death of his wife. Accidentally struck by a neighbor's car (played by M. Night Shyamalan himself, in a cameo appearance), she is miraculously preserved, wedged between the car and a tree, until her husband arrives to hear her last words. The words mean nothing to him at the time, only adding to his grief through their meaninglessness.
But, at the end, he realizes that God was speaking through his wife's parting message. And it gave meaning and life to all those "failures" that plagued the family. They were saving graces, after all.
I still get chills whenever I think about this movie, because it reminds me that some of the most annoying or unimportant aspects of our life can circle around to save us at a crucial moment, and that's when we see the "signs" that God was at work, all along, to do us good.
Scripture assures us that the steps of the righteous are ordered of the Lord (Psalm 37:23).
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)
If you haven't seen it already, when you get a chance, watch the movie, "Signs." That is, if you can handle the pop-ups.