Forward to the Past
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The first time I watched the Back to the Future movies, I enjoyed them a lot. The first one is the best of course, the second had the sweet hover board, and the third wrapped it all up.
Then one time years ago, we did a marathon of those movies, and I realized that those connections they had between the movies were too repetitive and it almost just seemed like the exact same movie done in three different times.
Especially the whole Marty being called “Chicken” thing and him not being able to back down from the challenge. Seriously Marty? Every time you do this, something bad happens. Why did it take until the end of the third movie for him to realize this (Oh – uh, spoiler alert?)?
Although I still enjoy the movies, the repetitiveness made it less enjoyable. Until recently. But I realized these movies are more realistic of our growth as humans than other movies. Countless movies have the protagonist have some flaw, and by the end of the movie, they fixed it and are all better. They don’t even struggle or hesitate – they have improved and it’s effortless.
But in reality (and in the BttF movies), that’s not how it works. Sure, we can realize that we have a bad habit or we don’t make the best decisions in certain situations (I’m only going to go on TikTok for ten minutes, then I’ll be productive!), but we don’t just flip a switch and become better. We succeed sometimes, we fail more often, but if we keep at it, we eventually get better.
But Deepu, technically the improvement for Marty is actually only over the span of a couple weeks.
Yeah, but it feels longer because it’s over the course of three movies. . . whatever.
My point is don’t give up when the things you know God wants you to improve take longer than you thought. You’re not going to be a better Christian simply because you want to be. We’re sinners. We need to be persistent and persevere even when we want to give up. As it says in this past Sunday’s reading from Paul’s second letter to Timothy:
I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith.
2 Timothy 4:7
Anyone else think that the name ‘Timothy’ looks weird when you look at it too long?
I struggle daily to be the man God created me to be. To love selflessly. To serve humbly. To parent patiently. But if I’m struggling that means I’m trying. And even if I fail often, I hope I don’t stop trying.
