The Maggie Assessment

It's always amazing to me how seemingly insignificant movie quotes float back into my head at random times. Tonight on my drive I was reminded of a line from the movie Hook, which, being a child of the 80s and 90s means that I've seen it roughly 2,000 times. The line is uttered by Maggie, an adult Peter Pan's young daughter who has just been rescued by her father from Captain James S Hook - the villain of legend that had kidnapped her and held her captive. I love her assessment of this man. While most would think the reaction would be for her to want her father to kill Captain Hook, she clearly has different ideas.

Right after Peter rescues his children she says, "Daddy, let's go home please. He's just a mean old man without a mommy." Seems like she has sized up Hook's condition quite well. She goes on to say a few frames later with much passion to her would be captor, "You need a mother very, very badly." To which her brother adds, "Yeah, let's go. He can't hurt us anymore." Now, if you've seen the movie you know that (spoiler alert!) Pan goes on to fight Hook which leads to his (Hook's) eventual presumed death. The children fly home with their father and all is put back right with the world.

It's the ending we hoped for. The ending we expected.

My focus tonight, however, is one you might not expect. I've always loved the heart of Maggie's character that shines through in her brief lines throughout the film. She clearly has Hook figured out. She doesn't need revenge, she doesn't seem overly afraid. She just wants to go home and she knows that this man is missing something desperately in his life to make him behave the way that he does.

Today I'm wondering how I can have a little bit more of the heart that Maggie seems to have here when it comes to the way I see people everyday. Although, instead of thinking about just whether or not he/she has a mommy, I need to be asking if the people I come in contact with know Jesus. Reading the comments on East Texas news feeds over the last few months have made me aware of two things 1) If you read these comments you will find yourself wanting to move and 2) for a place that's known as the "Bible Belt" the speed at which we are ready to condemn each other on a moment's notice is astounding. How would that change, I wonder, if we sat down and put our "love" goggles on so to speak, and said, "who is missing in this person's life?" Can we look at people and say, "You (just like me) need a savior very, very badly."

I'm not making much of a statement here tonight. I'm certainly not trying to say that I don't believe in justice. The word of God tells us that this is what the Lord requires of us - that we would act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God. (Micah 6:8). It just seems like some of us have only gotten to the first part. I don't know about you, but I'm going to keep on reading.

On getting my just desserts...

\di-ˈzərv\ 1. to be worthy of 2. to be worthy, fit, or suitable for some reward or requital

It’s a funny word we use, the word deserve. We hear it from all sorts of different places. Usually we hear it when saying that we deserve something will bring us something we feel we are entitled to for whatever reason. McDonalds told us what we wanted to hear in 1971 (granted, I wasn’t here to hear it yet) with “You Deserve a Break Today” and then others have followed suit with other me-time favorites like “Because I’m Worth It” or even looking out for man’s best friend in “Doesn’t your dog deserve Alpo?” I mean, come on… we all know how I feel about the dog… but really? She deserves something? Let’s see. What has she contributed to the world to deserve Alpo. Um, that’d be big fat nothing. It’s not like she’s waking up in the morning hoping to work her way up to Alpo. Actually, truth be told, her needs far exceed what Alpo is selling. What was I talking about again?

Oh yes, we think we deserve things. For about two years now, that word has been bugging me. I notice it all around me. One of my least favorite phrases to hear as an argument from those around me is the classic, “You deserve better.” Really? What have I done that you think warrants a better outcome in my life? Is it because you think I should be rewarded based on what I have done here on this earth? For myself? For others? Instead of going off of what humans think, let’s look at what God says about what it is that I, a sinner fallen from grace, deserve.

Psalm 103:8 says

The LORD is compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger, abounding in love.

9 He will not always accuse,
nor will he harbor his anger forever;

10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve
or repay us according to our iniquities.

So, you ask, how do I feel about not getting what I “deserve” in life? I think it’s more of that grace that I cannot seem to understand. Surpasses my limited knowledge. Overwhelms my simple mind, floods my heart, overflows my cup. Why? Because, HE does not treat me as my sins deserve. Even if Jesus didn’t do another thing for me the rest of my life, He died in my place and paid a debt He didn’t owe – something I could never deserve. O Lord, give me the grace to love like You love. And thanks for withholding what it is that I truly deserve.

Elizabeth

Filters

This week I’ve been thinking about filters. I know, sounds weird, right? Normally the only time I think about filters in when the guy from the oil change place comes in and shakes out a dirty air filter in my lap and tells me that I need a new one because this one is dirty. I always fight the strong urge to let him know that actually now I don’t need a new one because he has just cleaned the old one out on top of my dress pants. Thanks.

Maybe some of you are thinking that I lost my filter right there. Filters are used to keep the bad things out of the good things. They keep the sludge and filth out of the nice clean things we like so much. And I’m sure that air filter does something important, I’m just not the kind of girl who really cares about exactly how it works. Just put it on my tab, oil change guy.

Actually, the filters I’m talking about here today are the ones that we set up for the things that we say. The filter our brain develops over time. You know the ones. The filter that catches that curse word right before it reaches your teeth. The filter that keeps you from telling someone what you really think. The thing is, I’ve seen someone’s filter disintegrate quite a few times this week as my Granddad has struggled with general advanced age problems and sickness. And it got me to thinking…

Where do those thoughts come from? A lot of times you hear someone saying that it’s the “disease” but I’ve got to think that some of those thoughts are coming from somewhere, it’s just that the “disease” eats your filter. Let's just admit that all of us have experienced breach of filter moments in our own lives. It’s like someone has taken down our carefully placed screen and opened a not so flattering window into parts of our brains that maybe we didn’t even know about. Here’s what I’m getting at: God sees right through our carefully placed filter. He tells Samuel this in 1 Samuel 16:7 “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart."

Yikes. That means God sees the parts of me that even I don’t like to look at. And you know what? My filter might be akin to the emperor’s newest fashion statement when it comes to how God sees me, but now, thanks to My Jesus, I have a covering. In the words of singer songwriter JJ Heller, “I am painted red” by the blood of Jesus and that’s what God sees when He looks at me now. So yeah, I’m a mess. That’s not to say that I want continue to be – The Apostle Paul said that of course(!) we don’t take that grace as a license to sin and I’m with him on that – it’s just to say that once again, the grace that Jesus pours out on me freshly every morning is so much more than I drink in and when I get a little glimpse of another drop of it, my cup overflows.

Elizabeth