I just watched for the first time “The Shawshank Redemption”. I always knew it was an amazing movie based on everything I have heard. It is an incredibly inspiring movie. Not sure where to start, but I will begin with how we are all in the right place at the right time for divine reasons.
In this movie, the main character was accused of murder which he did not commit. He was sentenced to 2 lifetimes in a maximum security prison. Even though he did not commit the crime or deserve such treatment, he impacted every person in a big way that he encountered. With elegance and grace, he lived his life with Love regardless of the circumstances and his fate of prison.
This immediately reminded me of Job from the Old Testament of the Bible. This story found a righteous man undergoing repeated catastrophes that everyone blamed on his sins toward God. Why would a loving God allow a man of the highest character to undergo such issues? How could a God of Love allow for bad things to happen to good people? He must have messed up.
This book of Job explores deep questions about suffering, justice, and the nature of God’s care. Job is a wealthy and righteous man who experiences immense suffering when he loses his wealth, health, and family. His friends arrive and try to understand and comfort him, but they suggest that Job must have sinned to deserve such punishment.
Job questions why a just God would allow innocent people to suffer and he struggles with the circumstances he finds himself in. Eventually, God speaks to Job with a response regarding the vastness of Divine Wisdom and power that was beyond his understanding. Job humbles himself and praises God’s perfection. In the end, God restores Job’s fortunes by giving him even more abundance including an expansion of his family and wealth. The Book of Job focuses on themes like the relationship between human suffering and divine fate, Faith, and trusting our omniscient Creator.
Job went through extreme pain and loss. His faithfulness to God was extremely challenged. It suggested that Job was only righteous because of his immense prosperity. He suffered a loss of wealth and family, physical infirmities, alienation, and overall turmoil. Despite all this, Job never turned his back or cursed God. He never lost faith even in his ignorance. God ministered to Job by emphasizing the limitations of our human understanding and the perfection of Divine Wisdom. Like this movie, suffering and hope and the way we are placed in situations to grow were part of the Divine Plan to teach Job and others. No matter what, we are loved and blessed and taken care of by our loving Creator. Everything is purposeful with our opportunities to achieve the goals of being more like Christ via the challenges we are all here to master.
I was inspired by this movie. It of course, brought many tears to my eyes as I felt the pain and sadness of the main character. Hope was something he lived by and never forgot. He ministered to every person he encountered with his Light. He taught and gave and impacted everyone with his Belief. He was special. He was resilient. He was not afraid, but navigated his new world of prison with elegance.
I know a very special person in this world that has a Light that shines for miles. I have never seen such a bright light. She doesn’t even know any different. She isn’t conscious that she is unique. She just shines and brings laughter and fun and positive energy to all she encounters. Many people are like this, but she just happens to have a special gift. It is her unique gift.
We all have a light and energy. We have to remember how those things leave a mark on all we see. Optimism and trusting the Universe to always care for and provide for us must be remembered as we move through this sometimes difficult world. I forget this at times. I used to be completely unconscious about all of this. In fact, I was so angry in the past that I wanted to make it known to all how I got a raw deal. I was so sick. Thankfully, I broke. This was the Plan. This was why I was born into a difficult situation. I was bitter that I was born without loving family connections. I lost most all of whom I knew from my toxicity. When everything in my life fell apart, this brought me to my knees to scream out HELP! This is when my life began anew. This is when I was “born again” as Jesus said. I died and a new person emerged as an ignorant child. I had to reprogram my thinking. I had to start fresh and my learning about the present moment began this change. All things become new only in the present moment.
Fast forward 10 years later, like Job have been blessed with Love after being in the fire. I live a life I couldn’t even dream that I could have. The choices that come from our Hope and Trust and resiliency based on our Knowing of our loving Creator will catapult us in ways that we cannot even imagine or comprehend at our current level of understanding. The blessings I have receive only creates more hope. Our experience of the eventual justice (karma) and care we receive, strengthen us to be able to scale new mountain tops. We can always know that we will land on our feet and the Source of all things has our back. When you go to boot camp, you get stronger and better even though it was incredibly difficult. It doesn’t mean you want to do it again, but you can relate to the fact that it takes a lot of friction to sharpen the knife.
We can give our need for control to our loving Creator. Look around you. Everything is in balance and harmony. Practicing these principles is the route to personal Peace. I slip and fall like anyone would when it is muddy and slick. Falling down isn’t a sin. It is a way to grow. We have to keep getting up and seek the outcomes we want.
Job, Andy (the main character in the film), me and you learn from the undesirable situations we will encounter in life. Uncertainty is a gift just like the free will we are given to make our own choices in this life. How we react to uncertainty and change is the catalyst for our growth. We can avoid our lessons with self-pity or anger and doubt or we can embrace them with Thankfulness. We can view a new and unwanted situation as a gift of opportunity to level up and grow. Those things we can view as stumbling blocks are here for us to hone our skills and reinforce our Hope. Through these times of change, we will not just grow ourselves, but we are now given new opportunities to help everyone we encounter in our new situations just like Andy and Job.
This movie was a blessing for me to inspire and remind me of these things I am writing about. I am a hard headed man. It takes a lot of slipping and falling for me to learn Wisdom. I pledge to be diligent with my Love and Belief and Hope and Kindness and Understanding. I want to walk through the fire with elegance and grace as Job and Andy did. This movie will help me daily with remembering the beautiful Love of our God and how we are ALWAYS taken care of and to walk through difficult situations with my chin up. Now, I must be diligent to practice daily to build my strength because now that I Know this Wisdom, I can expect even more tests to help me level up like Job and Andy.
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