For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”- Jeremiah 29:11
“I know what I want to do when we get back home. I want to start singing.” Kate says to Toby as they prepare to return back home after Toby’s surgery. Kate has a great voice, and Toby believes in her enough to get her a singing gig: at his aunt’s nursing home! Although it seems comical, it is a loving gesture. Toby wants her to chase her dreams. Kate allows others’ perceptions of her to hold her back. Every time she tries to move forward in her life, she allows her weight and her low sense of worth to cloud her judgment. What if she stands in front of everyone with a microphone in her hand and they judge her? What if they say she’s not good enough? What if she is good enough but they can’t get past her weight? Kate’s mom Rebecca knows a little something about this, too. She wants to pursue singing as her career. But when she receives a rejection letter from a friend who owns a record company, she puts off hr dream, too. After many years of marriage and her kids are grown, she chases her dreams again. Only to have her husband’s jealousy sabotage her dream, causing her to call it quits after her first singing gig. Have you ever felt this way? Have you ever felt like what you look like (or something you have said or done) hold you back from achieving your dreams? God knows every plan and career choice you will ever make. Some of those career choices will move hour forward on the path toward our dream, while others will do nothing but help you bring home a paycheck, all the while allowing your dreams fade into the background. He has wired you for a plan and a purpose. He has gifted you with talents that will help you become more like Christ. That is, if you are up for doing the hard work required. What one thing can you do to help you move toward your dreams?
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his Is Us is the collective sigh of relief we’ve all been waiting for. It’s the show we as a society have not wanted but rather needed even when we didn’t know we needed it. It gives the world permission to say, “I don’t have it together, but it’s ok, because they don’t either.” It’s the assurance that no matter how perfect a parent we are our kids, who live in a fallen world will still have insecurities and addictions and pain they still have to process on their own.
The show is also unique in that we get a glimpse of what it is like to be an overweight woman in a society obsessed with weight. We get a glimpse of what it is like to live in an overweight person’s world. We also get to know what it is like to live in a black person’s world. Randall, no matter how successful he is in life, will always be the suspicious black man in an unfamiliar neighborhood. No other show even attempts this as skillfully as Fogelman does. This show is a unique perspective into ordinary lives of people who may share the same struggles but not as perfect as we think they are. Russell Moore, author of the Washington post article, Why We’re Obsessed with the Hit Show This is Us says, “This rings true because we all tend to see our lives as narrative and, like the characters in this series, the narrative is often murkier than we would like. Some of us had relatively idyllic childhoods. Some of us grew up in the specter of violence or addiction or abuse or some other awful reality. Some of us grew up wondering, as we do as we see some of the secrets of the back stories of this series unfold, whether the family figures of our past are heroes or villains or a mixture of the two. The switching back and forth between the 1980s and 2016 reminds us that the narrative of our lives is not a straight line. Our childhoods aren’t just “back there,” but they intrude on our lives now, sometimes in picking at old scars and sometimes in reminding us of the small mercies that have brought us safe thus far. We wouldn’t be who we are if not for the stories that have made us — stories we love, stories we hate, and sometimes stories we long to peer into but leave us in mystery.”[1] Jennifer Dukes Lee, bestselling author and fan of This is Us, wrote a blog post about why this show has garnered such acclaim: “This is Us” gives us faith in humanity again. It reminds us that we belong to each other. It fills us with delight, at a time when the world seems to be drowning in peril. It reminds us that we are all broken and whole – capable of laughing and crying in the same hour, or even the same minute. This Is Us works, because this is us. It works because we are them.”2 This is really us indeed. [1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2016/11/30/why-were-obsessed-with-the-hit-show-this-is-us/?utm_term=.3314bd0fe0af 2 http://jenniferdukeslee.com/tv-show-saving-sanity-recovering-delight/ Here are my top ten best quotes from the show. Have one that didn't make the lust? Comment below.
"No black man will ever be jealous of being auctioned. Hashtag American history"- Randall "Just so you know, your husband is a great father, and provider, and husband. You think you screwed him up but you didn't, you only made him stronger"- Rebecca I"n my experience Kevin, there is no such thing as a long time ago. There's only memories that mean something and memories that don't"- Sylvester Stallone "I'm a 37-year-old woman. And I shouldn't need to be pushed or coddled. Not by a man, not by my husband, not by my brother, not by anyone"- Kate "I said no. But your father was so sure I was tired and I was grieving and he just kept pushing me. He was so determined that you were meant to be. Meant to be ours. Sometimes, in marriage, someone has to be the one to push to make the big moves. And often times in our marriage, yes, it was your father. Our marriage wasn't perfect, it's true, but none are. And your father wasn't perfect either, but he was pretty damn close. As close as they come. He pushed a stranger on me, and the stranger became my child and that child became my life. He became you"- Rebecca "Randall, we're really gonna do this, I think this is the way. Your parents did something wonderful for you. And because of that, you had a wonderful like. But things could have been very different for you. That could have been you. If you really want to do this, if you really want to risk our perfectly imperfect life for something, let's go all the way. Let's take in an older kid who no one else in the whole damn world is gonna help"- Beth "You've asked me a question before, you wonder what I love about you now, So I'm gonna start with the obvious. I love the mother that you are. I love that you are still the most beautiful woman in any room and that you laugh with your entire face. I love that you dance funny, not sexy, which makes it even sexier, but most of all, I love that you are still the same woman who all those years ago ran out of a blind date because she simply had to sing. You're not just my great love story, Rebecca, you are my big break. And our love story? I know it may not feel like it right now, baby, but I promise you, it's just getting started'-Jack "I told you I'd send you a postcard. Goodbye my dearest Beth, the daughter I never had. Love, William"- William "I put the pressure on myself. It's always been like that ever since I was a little boy. My father, he kept it in check. Whenever I'd get too in my head, he'd take my hands and put them on both sides of my head and say 'there you go, breathe with me' and then we'd just sit there, breathing together, until it passed"- Randall "You are Jack Pearson's son. You have him inside of you. And when you're nervous or at your most nerve-wracking moment, the curtain's about to go up, all you have to do is remind yourself of that, and you'll be fine"- Miguel First came me, and Mom said gee, then came me and Mom said wee, and then came me and Dad said that’s three. One, two, three, Big Three!” as Kevin, Kate and Randall pound their fists into their chests. One of the first lessons they understand as children is the power of community and that they can’t face life’s toughest battles alone. As adults, they rely on each other just as much as when they were children. Kate calls Kevin the moment something is going well in her life. Conversely, Kevin calls Kate when he is facing a crisis or he needs to face the impact of an impulsive decision.
Kate, feeling like her world is unraveling having just broken up with Toby, she goes out into the woods alone, but Kevin follows her. “I can’t do this without my brothers,” Kate says through tears. “I need you here, Kate, I need you real bad,” Kevin replies. Kevin nor Kate can figure out who they are apart from each other. Although this may on some level be unhealthy, it is also a demonstration of the unshakable bond family can be for each other. As Christians, we often try to do the Christian life alone. Jesus understood that in order to weather the storms of life, His children need to do it in the context of community with each other. Jesus sends out the twelve two-by-two. There is never a time when we are called to live out God’s mission alone. Even God lives in community—Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The community we choose to surround ourselves with cheer us on when we succeed and carry us when we don’t. And that’s a great place to be. So, let’s strike our chests and yell “Big three!” while I go get another box of tissues before the next episode ;) |
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