A New Year, A New Script?

31. December 2009 by BruceSmith.

A New Year, A New Script?

Jim Carey, in the Truman Show, plays the role of the world’s first 24/7 reality TV star.  From birth everything is scripted for him, and until the very end, he has no idea.  The people he greets on the street, the people he works with, his neighbors, his friends, and even those in his own home, …they are all carefully arranged pieces in the predetermined script of his life, written for him by someone else.  Seemingly, he is always aware that something is out of place, but he can never quite put his finger on it.  Along the way, a courageous few try to break in, offer him clues, and encourage him to get free.  Sadly, their attempts are thwarted by those who want to see Truman remain just where he is, mostly, if not entirely, for their own entertainment and gratification.

I am convinced that many of us live the same kind of frustrated existence.  We love those the world wants us to love, we play as the world plays, we embrace the apathy the world settles for, we settle for soft minds, intellectual laziness and spiritual lethargy, and we buy into the mass media approach to life on the planet, always playing our role in a script largely dictated by the desires of others.  For some its just easier to follow the crowd, for others its about living for someone else’s dream, still others just don’t realize how much bigger life can be beyond this confining bubble.

We must get out if we are to find the life we were meant to live.

The new movie “Nine”, a musical featuring a ton of big stars and more than a fair amount of lengerie, is apparently a flop at the box office according to some initial numbers.  Yet, if one can stomach the somewhat slow start full of dancing sexual enticement, pleasure, ego, and debauchery, the movie gets around to presenting a truly profound and honest message.  What the movie eventually gets to, amidst all the flesh, (and all the flesh turns out to be an important part of the message, in terms of setting the stage for the unfolding drama) is that life is bigger than our cravings.  In fact, what Guido, the selfish, flesh-addicted, cheating, director comes to find out is that no amount of sexual or relational “freedom” will ever make him happy.  A man, self-absorbed, and enthralled with getting every ounce of praise and amusement he can find, Guido finds himself broken, empty, confused, full of anxiety, and void of any meaningful relationships.  He wants out, but he cannot come to a place where he has the courage to break free.  

As Guido’s entanglement in this meaningless script deepens he succumbs to an ever increasing sense of despair, and becomes more keenly aware of the pain he is bringing into the lives of others.  Finally, with no energy or desire left to continue, and as people at every turn are quitting on him, he just quits.  He quits everything, including his directing and writing which make him famous.  He wants to be done with it all. He wants to find himself, and really find life for the first time. This, as it turns out, is the beginning of his healing and the first steps toward a new journey.

Eventually, Guido, who breaks free of the conflicted cycles of living amidst lies, living without boundaries, and writing a diseased script, like Truman, exits stage left, and heads in a new direction.  What unfolds in the end is truly mesmerizing.  After a significant leave of absence from the past life, and from his directing and writing, Guido finds the passion and encouragement to write and direct again.  This time its all different.  Rather than a sex-filled, pleasure seeking, and self-absorbed script, Guido sets out to write the script he has always wanted to live.  This new script is one of redemption, goodness, faith, and meaningful relationships.  And what is so striking as Guido takes the Director’s chair again, is that all those players from the scripts of the past come to line the perimeter of the set, watching, and with a strange sense of gratitude and elation, hunger to see this new script, this new drama, this new life.  The characters from the previous script, somehow, look on knowingly, and with appreciation and longing, wishing they could be, themselves, characters playing a new role, embracing a new life.  Its a great scene as the movie closes.  Everyone, finally, gets to see Guido, immensely talented, but so long off course, find his bliss, and live the life he was meant to live.  Somehow, this change in direction brings hope to everyone around.  Wow.

The same reality confronts us every day our lives.  We can play into the twisted, confused, and empty script of a world gone mad for nothingness.  Or we can place ourselves in the middle of the script God has for us.  The quality of life we lead is totally determined by that choice.  Many will try to keep you confined to the same misery they experience every day.  A select few will point you in the right direction.  Whether they know it or not, however, all those characters lost in a broken script with us, long for us and themselves to break free and find what life is really about.  When they see it, they know it.  “That’s the script we all need!”, they will say.  Have you reviewed the script you have been living lately?  Is it a winner?  Might there be something better out there?

What script are you gonna live in this year?  What drama do you really want to play a role in?  Is it time to exit stage left, and move away from the set you have placed yourself in?  I assure you, God has a new set, new characters, new plots, and better endings in mind for you.  Get on with it!  Break a leg.

Happy New Year!!

Bruce Smith

optimuslife.org

soulstormsite.com

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