I was in counseling today….it’s funny to me how that kind of spurs a post…when I haven’t posted in a long time.

I suppose that’s a good thing though.  Writing in itself, is good.  I’ll spare you an apology for not writing in so long, just know that when I can, and when it’s appropriate, I will.

I was discussing with my counselor how hard life is sometimes…which is probably why I’m in counseling in the first place, but that’s another post for another time.  We were discussing authenticity.  And how important it is for me to become authentic to who I am, and who God has called me to be.

He mentioned the movie “The Matrix”.  Which, when it first came out, I saw about a dozen times it seems…but haven’t seen it in years.  As soon as he said the movie I knew what he was going to refer to.  That moment when Neo is presented with the red pill or the blue pill.  One pill lets him go home, wake up, and not remember anything that has happened…and the other opens his eyes.

I knew that’s the moment my counselor was going to refer to.  So I jumped the gun.  Cut him off…and I was pretty excited, because I love to talk movies with my counselor…so I immediately jump in. 

“Oh yeah, I said…that moment with the pills.  We use images like that all the time with the youth group.  You take the pill and suddenly you realize that there is more to life than what it seems.  Your eyes are open!”  And then I started to ramble a bit…my counselor, what a patient man…just let me go on…”I mean, it happens in Harry Potter…when he suddenly realizes he’s a wizard, and there is so much more to life; And with Frodo in the Lord of the Rings; and with the children in Peter Pan as they realize that the second star to the right is not just a star, but a whole new land!”

He smiled, clearly loving my excitement.

I went on, “What great images to use to show that God is a part of this world.  That he is present, and we just have to open our eyes to see him!  How awesome is it to recognize how great life can be when we open our eyes to that fact!”

He interrupted me then.  “Yeah David, amazing images.  Very cool.  But Neo’s was a bit different.  When he took the pill, and his eyes were open…the world was dark, and dreary, and desolate.  It seemed like the perfect embodiment of “The Fall” to me.”

 Wow.  I had totally forgotten it.  The big difference.  Frodo, Harry Potter, and the rest all seem to enter a much more full and enriching life.

But Neo…Neo entered our life.  Our life is dark.  Our life is dreary.  Our life is desolate.

We are broken.  We are fallen.  And that scene reminds us all of that.

Dark.  Dreary.  Desolate.

And it sucks.

In the movie, they go on to discuss how the “agents” of the matrix are very powerful, but they are limited.

 The LORD said to Satan, “Very well, then, everything he has is in your hands, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.”
      Then Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.

                                                                 -JOB 1:12 (NIV)

Thank you God…for having mercy…for limiting the power of evil over us…

And even though this world is dark, dreary, and desolate,

And even though we are fallen,

Thank you Lord, for being a part of this world with us.

Peace.