True Grit

This movie I went to this week lives up to it's title. It is a western re-make of a John Wayne movie of the same name.

A number of lessons can be drawn from this tough movie.

• Experience and trusting relationships go a long way in life. 
• What you sow you reap - you get out what you put in
• Sometimes stuff happens that is not just, not fair, not able to be handled as it is too hard to face - this may not mean anything to others. How we respond to it however, can effect the rest of our lives.
• We rely on one another to just get by sometimes.
• Drive, purpose, focus, and willing helpers or supporters, will get us where we want to go.

In the end it is about revenge and 'justice' in an old testament kind of way. The space to grow I guess is the emptiness we can experience without God. Without the experience of love, our lives can seem meaningless, empty, a struggle, and we slowly withdraw.

The challegne of course is to have 'true grit' and to ask for what we need, to expect the outcome we desire and work like heck to make sure it happens, to let love in, to trust and to care. At this point really amazing things happen.

At the end of the movie, Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges) finds resolution in caring about another who cannot repay him, being part of a purpose worth living for, worth dying for.  Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld) finds justice for her dad and more importnatly, finds a father figure she lost.

What does it have to do with religious education?
Redemption, the power of purpose that comes from caring for others, relationships matter, and that these things make life deep and rich.

God bless
Pa Richard