A Tragicomedy of Poetic Verse

If you could please all forgive me, I am taking the time to wax philosophical within this post. So Friday night I went and saw the movie "Stranger than Fiction." This was a highly good film and I would recommend that everyone go see it. Take home made cookies with you too, because you'll want to eat them.

The premise of this film, for those of you that don't know, is that the main character, Harold Crick, begins hearing a voice in his head, narrating his life in third person omniscient. The voice is right about a lot of things, and is mainly very annoying until Harold hears the voice say that he is going to die.

So, I began thinking about life and death. After all, thats the point of art, to make you think about life and death. So I did. We are all, for the most part going to taste of death at some point on this journey. Death in some form will come to all of us, through the loss of a loved one, or through our own. It will happen, we cannot stop it.

So why did it become so important for Harold Crick to find out why this author wanted him to die? More importantly, why did he want to stop her? I don't want to give anything away, so, its time to turn to my own personal life application. If you want to know what happens to Harold, go see the movie.

I think, all too often in life, I do the same thing over and over again. At least it feels that way a lot. Honestly, there is nothing bad about going to school, doing my job, doing homework, magnifying my calling, sleeping, eating, watching a movie. Nothing wrong. Those are all good things. What am I getting out of all of it though? If I were to find out that my death was coming much sooner than expected, what would I feel I had left unfulfilled in my life? Would I have any regrets? Would I wish I had done some things better, or perhaps done something more?Would I be afraid to die?

The answer to those questions is yes, I would feel some things were unfulfilled, I would have regrets, I could have done more, or done better, and I would be a little afraid of what would happen. Death feels so final, what can I fix after I die?

I know that in the gospel we are given innumerable chances to improve and become better. So, the main lesson I have learned is that it is important for us to act. As another very good movie said, "A life lived in fear is a life half lived." This quote really has such deep meaning. Satan is the one that wants us to live in fear. When you live in fear you are debilitated, you feel like you can't do anything and so, you don't.

So, resolution, don't wait until I hear a voice in my head telling me that my death is imminent. This life is the time to prepare to meet God. So, my dear friends and family, that is what we must do. The reason that there are so many scriptures telling us to press forward is because we have to. We can't improve or become any better by simply standing there. In the end, we will all experience death. Death should not be a scary thing, it should not be something we fear.

And remember to thank God for Bavarian cream filled cookies.