I watched the movie Click again last week. In the film, the main character, Michael, receives a remote whereby he is able to fast forward through all of the situations in his life which frustrate him. He always thinks life will be better once he’s over being sick, through fighting with his wife, or his parents (who he doesn’t want to be distracted by) have left. Michael believes he must work extra hard until he gets a promotion at work, thinking that he’ll have time for his family afterwards. So he always puts work and the things he feels need to be done before his family to the point where he doesn’t have any time for them. But it turns out it’s as the person whom gave him the remote warned him: the leprechaun is always searching for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow only to find that it’s just a bowl of cereal.
One of the most poignant moments in the movie is when Michael returns to the last time he saw his father to see what happened (he had fast forwarded through the experience originally). In the scene, he ignores both his son and father, requesting they leave him alone to work. His father is hurt but, even though Michael isn’t listening, he puts his hand on Michael’s shoulder and tells him “I love you son”. A bit later in the movie, Michael’s son and daughter are with him with him as he is dying. It’s heart-wrenching because you can tell they love him even though he’s been pushing them aside his whole life.
I got the sense that it’s a picture of how God feels about us. We believe there are all of these things that we must get done. So we get busy, forget about God, and/or push God aside thinking we’ll have time later. (Granted, a relationship with God is different than with another person; it’s something we have to learn.) But despite this, God still loves us just as much, nevertheless. And he longs for us to take time to develop our relationship with himself.
