I love Hallmark movies. At the moment there are so many feel-good Christmas movies out there to watch, it feels like, well, Christmas! Because, although I do enjoy watching some angst, I’m a happy ending kind of person. My favorite stories are those that end with everyone living happily ever after with every piece of the plot tied up in a neat little happy bow.
Everything turns out perfectly, everyone (except the bad guy, of course) gets just what they wished for, and everybody is a little too happy. Evil is defeated, the twinkling lights sparkle, and the happy couple dreamingly gaze into each other's eyes. The end!
Sometimes, movies are even so bold as to have things go terribly wrong in the middle. But that all just serves to make the happy ending that much happier.
TV, books, movies pretty much all tell us we just need to follow those easy steps, believe these few facts, and say these magical words, and all our problems will disappear. And unfortunately we’d like to think life works that way too. After all, the media is meant to be a reflection of the world and reality we live in.
But buying into the idea that all problems will be so easily solved and hurts so quickly mended is a dangerous game. Life isn’t a Hallmark movie where all wounds are mended and relationships are forged in a quick ninety minutes. But wouldn't that be nice? If one heartfelt conversation could cure a lifetime of hurt. One prayer to fix all the wrongs. One right decision to make up for a lifetime of wild living. One act of kindness of to gloss over years of mean treatment. We want quick and easy and painless solutions to all our problems. But that’s not how hurt works. That’s not how relationships work.
Possibly an opposite to the Hallmark movies if the Lord of the Rings. Tolkien’s stories are filled with dark evil, with many unanswered and unfulfilled longings. Yes, it ends with the triumph of the Fellowship and the fall of Sauron; but people are changed for it and life does not go back to being quite the same as before.
They can’t quite go back to the good old days. There are losses and deep hurts that will never fully be healed. Questions are left unanswered, the Shire is not how they left it, the Elves sail west, Frodo leaves, and a heaviness lingers. Yes, they find victory and joy, but it’s not the same as before. Evil left its mark.
As much as I love my Hallmark movies, I know that the reality of the rollercoaster of life is a lot more like the LOTR. Things and people get broken. Healing takes time. Wrong choices are made. Friends leave. Lives are shattered by the actions of others. People hurt each other. Sickness lingers. Terrible, unthinkable things happen. Life is hard.
In all this darkness we wonder if it’s even worth it. Sadly, as the suicide rates show, too many people decide it's not. All this evil and hurt and weeping at midnight and brokenness.
And we can't just shrug it off or live in a state of ignorance is bliss. When we think that all problems can be fixed and tied off with a pretty bow, we’re cheapening hurt. We’re deceiving ourselves, putting our heads in the sand and blocking our ears to the reality of life.
In fact, if we think we can just ignore evil, we’re lessening the Gospel. We’re lowering the stakes. Because a small wrong doesn’t require much to defeat it, but an overwhelming hurt needs a powerful healer. When we don't acknowledge evil for what it truly is, we don’t fully see the full brokenness and depravity of sin and it's wretched outworking (Romans 7:24).
But Jesus came, fought, and in dying on the cross and through his resurrection overcame, so that the story does not end in darkness, so that evil does not have the last word (Hebrews 2:14).
It's important to see the darkness, because it is proof of how much the light is worth; how much we need it. Because as grave and as real as hurt may be, healing is realer still. As the wonderful Samwise said, there is still good in this world, and it is worth fighting for.
Things are broken, but they can be put back together. They aren’t and will never be the same, no. But they can still be good. Mended things are good. You tell a story of redemption, hope, and a powerful God. When we trivialize hurt as something easily fixed, we lose something vital. When we silence sorrow and gloss over grief, we miss a key part of the story.
Somehow, due to our redemptive God, things can be better for being broken. Not the same, and to pretend that they could be is a joke. But like a painting made richer by its darker colors, for they make the light stand out. Like returning home, not the same hobbit, but still able to say, “Well, I’m back” with rich memories and stories of the journey to share.
We will never avoid hurt. We will never be able to shrug away the problems of this world. Wrongs don’t just disappear, and brokenness can't mend in a hour and a half run time. We have to face the darkness head-on, seeing and acknowledging it–yet holding onto the unwavering hope we have in Jesus (Hebrews 6:19). Fighting the good fight for light (1 Timothy 6:12). Knowing and choosing to believe that God is still fully in control and that his goodness still prevails. Yes, it might never be the same, never be what we wanted and wished for, but it will still be good, because our God is good (Psalm 145:9).
And beyond this broken earth, there is eternal good. Where somehow everything will be better for having gone through the hurt. One day all tears will be wiped away, one day we’ll see it was all worth it (Revelation 21:4). One day we’ll see the Righteous One Jesus, who bears on His hands the scars of the greatest, darkest wrong, through which good triumphed.
And we will one day rejoice forever and truly live happily ever after in the presence of our Good, Good Father.
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