I am of the era when a movie meant a reel-to-reel projection
onto a screen. Intermissions at the cinema enabled the projectionist to change
to the next reel. As our family grew, we used to take quite a bit of ‘cine’
film, and nothing delighted the children more than to have a movie night where
we would sit and watch their antics, the way they were in times gone by.
The images travelled visibly between the projector and the
screen, spooky holographs of people and events. A side view revealed a sort of
tunnel of light in which these images were captured until they were displayed
on a flat surface.
As Don threaded the film into the projector, the kids loved
nothing better than to cavort in front of the light so that their shadows were
dancing on the empty screen. When the movie started, the images wrapped over
their bodies, which continued to cast dancing shadows on the screen and
interrupted the viewing of the film. Everyone else would call out, ‘Sit down!’
and finally we would settle to watch a short film depicting the way we were.
The kids in the present moment could not see themselves as
they were in the present, except as outline shadows on an empty screen, or
interrupting a film of the past.
It’s so much easier to see ourselves, the way we were, than
to see ourselves as we are now. Whatever our antics, past or present, when God
looks at us he sees his daughters and sons.
When Jesus was asked who he was, he replied with the
extremely loaded phrase, ‘I am’, signifying his understanding that he and the
Father are one, and have been one from the beginning and until the end.
It would be very healing and encouraging if we could see
ourselves as he sees us, and that when we are asked who we are, our first
thought would be ‘a daughter/son of the King’. Reel to Real.
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