Psyched out writing

My own experiences seem limited these days. Except for church, symphony, and playing with my granddaughter, life is pretty boring. So what to do about the missing people thing? Watch movies.

But even movies are not the best anecdote. The interactions are all scripted and though it gives me something to talk about, it is not the same as real dialogue. Yet it helps the time pass and gives me better things to think upon. I sort of have a schedule, and then it gets interupted by who knows what barking objection. The last three movies that have stuck with me follow…

The first one that surprised me in my enjoyment was “The Nightmare Before Christmas.” Yeah, I know, it’s an old one. But my daughter was playing in the symphony that night, and the music was live! This 1993 classic stop motion animation is a dark fantasy musical directed by Henry Selick. My honesty tells me I must admit that I had never seen the movie until that night. What an enlightening experience. Watching the movie in and of itself was never a top priority for me. I do not “halloween.” In other words, I do not decorate for fall, buy candy at the store (or anything else, but that’s a different excuse), care to watch scary movies, or otherwise keep track of every nightmare that I have. Life has dealt me enough real live DAY-mares and fear does not need any help to be part of my life.

So, back to enjoying the movie. The music of course was amazing, and there were a whole host of dim witted thugs there that did not comprehend the abilities of our local symphony. What surprised me was that the gist of the movie is that everyone wants “Christmas” in their lives and some will stop at nothing to try to steal it’s wonder. And now it makes complete sense to me why Halloween has so many elements of Christmas in it’s decor. The lights, the free-stuff, the fun, the dressing up into characters. But it will never compare. The true spirit of Giving comes from the best gift giver ever-God the Father.

James 1:17 “Every good and perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of Lights in whome there is no variation or shadow of turning.” Other versions of scripture use the word impartial. God does not judge one more acceptable of receiving gifts that another. He is the most fair judge ever.

The next movie that caught me off guard by it’s possible deep content was the movie “The Music Never Stopped.” A 2011 American drama directed by Jim Kohlberg, this movie is full of era sensitive content. The base line content of the movie was the power of the mind or the memory to be stuck in a particualr time frame. Thus the music content of the Vietnam era and the hippy lifestyles. This content would normally steer me away as that was when I was a little child. I have no “woodstock” era memories. The deeper content of the film is what I enjoyed enough to make my husband watch it with me.

Father power still exists whether people understand it’s relevance or even know what it means. The power of a loving dad to effect change upon his child, or another is amazing. We sometimes see this played out in the relationship of a coach and her student. Mentorship is huge in the buzz of church life and in business growth. The power of a father to create long lasting character within his child because of their quality and quantity of time spent together is unmistakable. This movie shows this concept in a way that brought me back to the teachings that we enjoyed in the homeschooling days of our young family life.

Not too recently I heard the testimony of an individual who experienced the curse of a grandfather upon her life. The devastating effects of this one individual’s belief and words lasted a life time and tore down the building blocks of healthy relationships. It was so sad for me to hear her tell me all of the crumbling relationships because of the “father power” of one person in her family. Happily, today she understands that God’s love can still reach her in spite of the loss that she experienced. And because of that one person’s curse, she has learned to love others in a whole different way.

The third and latest movie that I watched was “Shadows in the Sun.” Formerly titled Shadow Dancer the Totten Tomatoes review gives the 2005 film a 3.75 rating. Written and directed by Brad Mirman, I thought the male chauvinism and chinnanagins in the movie was somewhat lame. It is the story of an editor that befriends an elderly writer and ties to break through the writer’s block that he is experiencing. Writer’s block is real. I have experienced it myself. Fear has many shapes and sizes and will find it’s residence any where allowed.

Because my journal writing often includes experiences that are present and painful, my greatest fear is that I would write something too revealing and hurt someone’s feelings. When a story is funny or humorous, I feel free to include the other person. But when my feelings of pain and perhaps even unforgiveness or anger are involved, I hesitate.

So for the past two months, many of my writings have been trashed. The best thing to do when someone hurts me, is to write about it and then burn it. Well, when it is in a blog… Sometimes the best choice is to find the trash can and just hit the delete button.

One quoteable moment from “Shadows in the Sun” is when the young editor tells the writer why he will continue to write. He states, “Because I cannot imagine doing anything else.” Indeed.

Yes, I cleaned out the library again the other day. Instead of writing, rearranging the contents in my box took up the better part of the day. It is my space. My zone. If there is too much clutter, no place for the dog to lie out of my footsteps and too many things screaming my attention… I can’t wirte with all that brain fog in the room.

This past week as I worked on this entry, the Christmas cactus ushered in the first snowfall with it’s blooms. I put out my snowman collection and started shopping for a new fake Christmas tree. Ours was so old the nylon needles were shedding. I will give in soon to the idea that the season is just not complete without handling all of the ornaments we have collected through the years.

Now, if I could just hire some 12 year old to sit and read some of these books to me.