Monday, July 16, 2007

If I Could Turn Back Time

The other night Jason and I caught a Lifetime movie - one of those movies where you don't purposely sit down to watch but happen to stop at the channel as you're flipping through, and you can also pick it up 30 minutes in and still catch up. I don't even remember the name of it, but once we started watching, we watched until the end. The premise of the movie was this: The main character of the movie had an unknown aunt who died and left her house to this woman. That came out awkward but I don't know how else to type it. Anyway, in this house was an old music box. Every time the woman opened the music box, her reality changed. She didn't travel in time forward or backward, but rather parallel, in a world where her past had been different, thus making her present different, too. Right before this woman had received the house, her husband and only daughter had been killed in a car accident. However, one time when she opened the music box, her new reality was that her husband and daughter were alive - but the "tragedies" of her life were different. She had apparently had an affair with a coworker and was trying to straighten things out with her husband, and her best friend had been killed in a plane wreck. Of course, it took her a few times with the music box and her reality changing for her to figure out what was happening, but once she figured it out, she had a decision to make - stay with her current reality or open the music box, hoping for something better. She was satisfied with the husband/daughter/affair reality, but then her daughter found the box and opened it, and the next morning the new reality was her husband and daughter were gone again and she was just dating her coworker. She didn't like that reality, so she opened the box again, and this time her husband was gone, and her daughter had walking problems due to the accident. Then later in that reality, her daughter went missing, and then she found her daughter but they were being chased, so she opened the music box to get out of the situation, and then the new reality was that she and her husband were in a custody battle over the daughter, and she was the one being accused of kidnapping her child. Well, that's the plot in a nutshell. What we find out is that the aunt who had died and given away the house could not keep from opening the box time and time again, trying to avoid the tragedies of life or change the reality. What happened to the aunt, though, was she changed the reality of her life so many times that by the end, noone knew who she was, and people who knew of her thought she was crazy. Fortunately for the main character, she put an end to the cycle at the end of the movie and destroyed the music box, and like every good Lifetime movie should end, her new reality was the scene right before her husband and daughter had been in the accident, and she was able to change the circumstance so they weren't in the accident after all, and they lived happily ever after.

What would it be like if we had the power to change our reality? Would we choose to exercise that power? Would we excercise the power out of curiosity (my life's boring) or necessity (I want to avoid this tragedy) or regret (if only I had...) Tonight I sit at the computer replaying some different events that have happened in my life over the last week - witnessing a friend with sudden illness, a despondent waitress, a critically injured motorcyclist on the road, the death of a member of our church, the stories on the internet that I read about children with terminal diseases - I'm sure the people these situations directly affected would like to go back and make different choices to alter what their reality became. Wouldn't all of us like to fast forward to the future, see what that looks like, and then come back to the present to try to tweak the future to what we think a happy life should be?

I guess ultimately as a Christian I can say God is in control, and he knows the future, and even if I had the power to change reality, I wouldn't or shouldn't intervene in his master plan. But then where does prayer fit in? I prayed for my sick friend - he's doing well. I prayed for the motorcyclist in the road - he's in critical condition. I pray every night for the sick little girl - she's getting worse. What if the world is just made up of random events that we want to put a label on so we call it God's plan? Does that somehow soothe the tragedies and bless the good fortune? Or is the plan somewhat loosely fitted, and the little things that happen in between are trivial? Maybe these are the things that are negotiable through prayer. I guess I have a lot of questions for when I get to heaven, because there are a lot of things I just don't get. I hope my seven year old doesn't ask the same sort of questions until I get it all figured out.

12 Comments:

Blogger Unknown said...

Deb,
The quote on the podium at the old South Marion Friends church said "Prayer Changes Things." What things? Who decides? How? Why? Whose prayers? The most faithful prayer warriors in the Bible and in church history did not have all the answers either. Enter faith and obedience now, which will suffice for us until heaven. Good thoughts!
Mom

July 17, 2007 11:20 AM  
Blogger Anon said...

Now we're getting back to the Cool Sis we all know and love. Novels! You're famous for it. :) You give many thoughts and deep theological principles that my little brain just can't handle. :) However, I will side with DeNeff and agree faith will always meet providence.

After this long discussion of "Deb's Deep Thoughts", I can't seem to get off the title of this post. I keep singing Cher to myself. :)

How could you do this to me? :) :) :) :)

July 18, 2007 10:21 PM  
Blogger K. Karr said...

Deb,
I love your "novels". I have to admit I have been stalking your site as well as anon's, and a few others for months. I finally entered into the citizenship of blog land. Check out Life and Times of Lil'kk.
The Karrs

July 18, 2007 10:46 PM  
Blogger toolman'swife said...

Deb,

I truly think there are many things that happen here that are not God's will. He is good and everything he does is good. I have proof with my the car accident that killed my mother. (she was a Christian, but very oppressed) I may tell you one day. He may have allowed them and doesn't violate free-will, but didn't cause them. John 10:10 says the thief comes to kill, steal, and destroy. Jesus came to give us LIFE...NOW! Jeremiah 29:11 i think says how God will turn bad things into good. He didn't get me into the mess I am in now, but I'm going through a definite rebirth. I'm quite the theologian now. LOL I bought the Bible I have now last year, and it look all worn and ratty now. I'm in it day and night, and can't get enough. It's all making sense to me for the first time...well some of it. Some things we just won't understand til we're standing face to face with them, and at that time we won't even care. =)

July 19, 2007 12:59 AM  
Blogger toolman'swife said...

that was me, teryn, up above.

July 19, 2007 12:59 AM  
Blogger toolman'swife said...

man...and the last line I meant to say, "when we're standing face to face with HIM" not them. Guess it's time for me to go to bed.

Teryn

July 19, 2007 1:01 AM  
Blogger Kelley said...

Very thought provoking. I've missed your deep writings too. I don't know that I would alter anything that has happened so far, but I would love to have a glimpse at the future. The unknown is hard for me. For example, I think I could be content waiting for a husband, if I just knew the wait was going to eventually end. I guess if we knew ahead what was going to happen there really wouldn't be a need for faith. Hmmm...tough stuff.

July 19, 2007 9:59 AM  
Blogger Anon said...

Toolman's Wife

I need access to your blog please.

July 19, 2007 1:05 PM  
Blogger toolman'swife said...

Anon,

I need your email to do that. You can send it to my email @ thetaylors06@yahoo.com

I'm in the cool club now! hahahahah =)

July 19, 2007 2:27 PM  
Blogger Deb said...

oops, sorry to both of you - I was supposed to facilitate that after you got back from vacation. I didn't know your e-mail address. My sincere apologies.

July 19, 2007 5:30 PM  
Blogger Keetha Broyles said...

Those types of movies always make me think and wonder - - - they seem pretty complex.

HOWEVER - - - in reality we DO affect our future with every single choice we make - - - makes our choices pretty important, doesn't it!?!

And Deb, I don't care if you write a novel or an essay - - - I'm just THRILLED you're back!!!

July 30, 2007 9:31 PM  
Blogger Keetha Broyles said...

Wow - - - that was QUICK!!! I just found your comment (on my blog) to my comment (here on your blog) I left you an answer on my blog. :-)

July 30, 2007 9:44 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home