Blue Jasmine

We need to get to know people better. We need to ask more questions and dig deep to find the real answers. We need to think about others more than we think about ourselves. We need to give our worries to God and give up some of our ambitions so we can free our mind for people to cross its path, and not just people that are in our mind for something that will benefit us.

What is happening to the world? What is happening to people? We need to care about each other. And we need to get our love from God so we can have a steady flow for others. If we're getting love from something else, we'll only have love for others when that thing is going well, and that's not the abundant life God has called us to.

This movie made me think, but it leaves the audience sort of hopeless, and I hope they find it a call to action instead of depression, and a call that's more than just to "try not to lie or date people that rip phones out of walls."

There are people in this world who are going through hard things, and it may cause them to act strange, but maybe instead of looking at them weird or avoiding them, we can try to get to know them better. That may be hard because by associating with strange people, we may be seen as strange as well. But guess what, we're all strange. It's what makes life interesting. So if you want to go on pretending like you have it all together and only associating with others who act the same, go for it. But I hope the emptiness drives you to something greater.

Short Term 12

I am soooooo glad to be back in LA and able to see movies that aren't playing everywhere.

Though B) Why isn't this movie playing everywhere?

It was soooooo good. It's about a late 20's or so woman who works in a teen group home, and let me just tell you, I worked in a group home once (it's the reason I originally moved to CA when I was 21), and I could relate so much of my experience to what was going on in the movie.

I cried pretty much the whole time, and then the part where all the kids make a bunch of cards for the one girl that's not connecting with anyone, OH MY GRACIOUS. I was bawling. Mostly because I've made a lot of cards for people.. at the group home where I worked, at all sorts of places where I've worked, for friends in general. I write letters, encouragement notes, tell stories. It is my favorite way of lifting people up, but sometimes I feel like this "life work" of mine has gotten me nowhere.

I care about people, but I have no boyfriend. I care about working hard and spending time on projects, but I have no real job. I write, write, write, write write, create, create, create, create, create, yet what is happening with any of it? Nothing really.

But it's funny because the first card the girl in the movie opens says at the bottom, "Your friend, Tracy," and that's when I really lost it.

I felt like God was saying, "I know, Tracy. I know about each and every card and letter and story you've written for people, and maybe it doesn't seem like it, but it has made a difference."

It made a difference for the girl in the movie, and this movie made a difference in my life, and you know what? World-famous success or no success at all, everything you do from your heart for someone else counts because it's love, and that is the reason we're here.

Matthew 22:37-39 - "Jesus replied, 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.'"

The Giant Mechanical Man

I was really impressed by this movie. I'm not going to lie and say I didn't check it out on Rotten Tomatoes first to make sure it was a good movie. I thought maybe it was an old Jenna Fischer movie from before she got famous, but actually it was made in 2012 and was quite excellent.

Basically she's a woman in her thirties who doesn't have her life figured out (hence why I wanted to watch), but then she meets this man in his thirties who also doesn't have his life figured out, or at least not in the way society says we should. She's out of work, and he makes little money working as a street performer as a "giant mechanical man," but then they both end up working at the zoo, which is where they meet.

I liked this movie because

A) It was beautifully shot. The scenes of the city and just of everything were captivating.

B) Most of the writing was realistic and hilarious. I especially liked the phone conversation where the sister says they're out of dip, and it sounds like she's talking to someone at the party, but she's actually talking to her.

C) There were a lot of genuine and sincere moments that were quite believable and well-acted.

But here's the thing. I think all good romantic movies are good because they are a metaphor of God's love for us. He loves and treasures us so much, and though we may sometimes see it through an actual person on earth, there is not one person that will make us feel satisfyingly loved and treasured at every moment for the rest of our lives.

But that's okay! I think knowing that, allows us to give grace to the people we're in relationships with and helps us to love them better, and it helps us draw closer to God. If there was one person on earth that loved us in a complete and perfect way, then we wouldn't need God, or that person would be God or something, which is not the case (obvs).

John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." 

If the man in the movie was God, that verse would say, "For the man so loved the woman that he had some things in common with her that they shared beautifully, and he gave her sincere compliments, and then they had sex." (Nice, but not quite as redemptive.)