A River Runs Through It

"My father was very sure about certain matters pertaining to the universe. To him, all good things - trout as well as eternal salvation - come by grace and grace comes by art and art does not come easy."

My wife and I watched "A River Runs Through it," on Friday night, and I have to say we loved it. We watched it before, but it never struck us as a great movie. But this time it did, maybe because we're parents now, maybe because the scenery is absolutely breathtaking.

There's some major theme's that run through the movie, the most obvious, is the desire to help those you love, and the acceptance that they may not even want your help, but that we need to do it anyway, because that is a key part of our humanity.

Something else struck me, and that is the similarities to the Bible's Story of the Prodigal Son, which happened to be Sunday's Gospel. This Elder brother is clearly more magnanimous than the Bible's version, but the similarities run through the whole movie. It shed light on something about the Bible's Prodigal Son's story. The Father in the movie, absolutely loves his Prodigal Son, he is fun to be around, he is kind, he is strong. The Father sees all the greatness about his son, but doesn't allow himself to see the weakness. I thought about two things, first, many times people who have addictions when they get help, become exceptional people, because they learn humility the hard way, and they learn to trust God and not themselves the hard way, and a lot of times their curiosity and zeal for life if directed the right way, becomes a terrific pearl for the world. The Second thing, I wonder if God doesn't see us in a similar way, because He is the one that gave us those gifts in the first place, He sees the greatness that this person can become, and He constantly desires us to wake up, and allow Him to direct those desires.

I strongly recommend re-watching "A River Runs Through it", if for no other reason than the amazing scenery.