How Many Movies Can You Show Your Children?

Thinking about the essentials.

Photo by Baim Hanif on Unsplash

I’m writing this the morning after our firstborn graduated from high school, and I’m here to affirm that all the cliches are true. You blink and they’ve grown up. It went by so fast. How many more checks must I write?

For years, we’ve been focused on this forthcoming event and then, all of a sudden, the language changes. She’s not graduating, she graduated…she’s a graduate.

In one very real sense, it flew by. In another sense, it seemed like 17 real years. Like it was the appropriate amount of time. Reflecting on all the years of school, I think, Yeah, that’s about right.

All that to say, time is a funny thing.

I think we need to view time as something that’s very strange. Only, strange doesn’t quite capture it. I think we should hate time. Too strong? Allow me to explain.

Time is something that constantly takes from us. You can never purchase any more of it. The limited amount you have is constantly draining from your account. Because of this, it’s taking away from every moment - work, recreation, rest, joy - any experience you ever partake of, is lessened by time.

Time is the enemy we’re all fighting against. It’s constantly telling me all the things I can’t do. It ensures that I won’t be able to tell my children all the lessons I need to teach them before they leave my home. Time is against us.

Before They Leave for College

Next week, I’ll begin a new series for this newsletter: ‘Before They Leave for College’. This will be an ongoing series that highlights movies we should view with our children before they graduate. Just as we won’t be able to teach our children every lesson in life, we also won’t be able to show them every movie we’d like.

In light of this, I want to start creating a list of movies that are essential viewing for families. Some of these might not be classics, but they are evergreen. For one reason or another, these films contain something that resonates with our humanity.

Agree or disagree, I hope this at least gives you some notion of intentionality with the movies you show your family. Instead of just watching the same old movie over and over again - which is okay, to a degree - why not ensure you show them a movie that may be more important. Instead of simply watching whatever is new, why not show them something that’s had some staying power in the cultural zeitgeist. That’s what these periodic articles hope to encourage.

The Gift of Time

Maybe I was a little hard on time.

Then again, I don’t want to let up too much, because we weren’t created for time. This is why we feel like we never have enough time, or that the time went by too quickly - it’s why all the cliches exist. Time is foreign to our souls.

However, in a strange sense, that’s what makes time a gift. Time is precious because it’s limited. When something’s abundant, we appreciate it less.

But the gift of time doesn’t simply come from its finitude, it comes from pain. The time you and I have on this earth will be filled with many afflictions. If you’re reading this, you have shed more than a few tears in your lifetime. Pain is a part of being alive on this earth.

Watching your children grow and leave your home is one of those pains. Bittersweet for sure, but it’s still bitter. This is where the gift of time comes in. In a very real sense, time is a mercy from God. Time is God’s way of telling us, It won’t always be this way. The pain you feel today has an expiration date. The afflictions of this world will not have the final word.

Time, itself, has a time-limit on it. It’s called eternity.

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Next Week: The first essential movie in the ‘Before They Leave for College’ series.