The Shack is a movie that recently came out and has a really
powerful message. This story is about a man finding his way to God and
forgiveness. Regardless of how you feel about religion I think there is still a
lot that we can learn from this movie. The family experiences an enormous loss
when their youngest daughter, Missy, is murdered. You can see the huge void
that is created in the family when Missy is taken away from them. The father,
Mac, experiences a tremendous amount of guilt. He feels he failed his daughter because
he was not able to save her. The majority of the movie follows Mac and his
journey to forgiveness.
There is no blueprint on how to handle grief. We are
responsible for our own healing. We need to handle healing on our own terms and
on our own time. God is always with us when we are wrestling with our grief.
Our pain clouds our thoughts and we can feel like we are completely alone. But
I believe God knows who needs his help the most, he never leaves our side. Mac
feels like God left him and Missy when they needed him most. God says he never
left their side. Loss always leaves a mark. God goes on to say that he never
leaves us; however, our pain causes our judgment to get clouded and we loose
site of God. Pain is like clipping a birds wings, it causes us to struggle to
do what we are meant to do. He knows the exact moment when we need him to touch
our lives in order to save us. There are some paths we must take the initiative
to go down in order to achieve healing but God never leaves us.
Throughout our lives we all experience loses. When we
experience a loss we must forgive to start our healing process. Forgiveness is
never easy. In Mac’s situation someone murdered his daughter. God wants Mac to
forgive his daughters murderer. For many of us we do not have to forgive in
such an extreme measure. Mac says he wants Missy’s murderer to burn in hell,
which many of us would say is a natural reaction. God says that Missy’s
murderer is still his son and he wants to redeem him. Mac struggles with this
because he does not understand how God would want to redeem someone who did
something so horrible. God says that the anger and guilt Mac is feeling is
tearing him apart. In order to heal our hearts we must be able to forgive those
who have hurt us in the past. God says that forgiving him does not excuse his
actions as everything has consequences but it is a step above grabbing his
throat. When we experience such anger and loss it can be difficult to let go
and forgive. Forgiveness is a process; you may have to forgive someone a
thousand times before it gets any easier to let go or the anger to subside. It
is okay to be upset and angry; however, we do need to let go of those feelings
in order to experience healing.
Forgiveness is something we must continually work on. When I
first watched this movie I was moved to tears because I could see myself in
Mac. I have lost people close to me due to disease and tragic accidents so I
was able to put myself in Mac’s shoes. Forgiveness is hard and it takes a lot
of time before it gets easier. There are still days where I think about it and
it is still difficult to give that forgiveness; however, I know how much better
I feel after I extend my forgiveness. I feel this is something that we all need
to be aware of and work on every day.
Are there people in your life you need to forgive? Are there
people you have not let go of? What is the first step in your forgiveness
journey?
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