I recently watched The Adjustment Bureau. I'm sorry to be bringing up another movie, but after it ended, I found myself contemplating its message quite a bit. If you haven't seen it yet, I'll give just a brief summary...a very brief summary. Basically, the main characters, David and Elise, fall in love. However, as with any good love story, something impedes their relationship from progressing. In this case, that something is the adjustment bureau. The responsibility of the adjustment bureau is to keep each man or woman on his or her own set, predetermined path. Each member of the adjustment bureau works for the "chairman" of the bureau and he is the one who determines which path is correct for each person. Of course, in the movie, David and Elise are not meant to be together, so they must find a way to break free from the chairman's grip. From a Hollywood standpoint, I think it's safe to say that the "chairman" would represent God in this movie; a controlling God who doesn't allow humanity to make individual decisions.
Luckily, that is not the way I envision God. To this day, I'm still trying to decide exactly how I feel about the movie; however, one thing I do know, is that it brought some thoughts to my mind that I'm grateful for. First of all, the movie's representation of God is quite skewed, but I related to it in a way. Heavenly Father obviously doesn't force us to do anything; we have our agency. He does, however, know what is best for each of us. So, although we are not forced to follow a specific path, there is a path that may be better for us to follow than others. Hence the need for revelation.
This thought brought about a personal epiphany. Have you ever felt, as David and Elise did, that you are not on a path you would have chosen for yourself? Have you wondered why things happen the way they do when such circumstances, you feel, tend to just bring sadness or disappointment? I have. I've even prayed that I might receive something I want, because I feel it will bring me the happiness my Heavenly Father would want me to have. This movie though, along with plenty of other experiences, has made me realize that there is a plan, better than my own, occurring in my life right now...and as I put my faith in God, I will be able to see it as such.
An encouraging and relevant quote was shared in a talk given in my ward this past week. It's by Elder Bruce C. Hafen. He said: "...we must willingly give everything, because God Himself can't make us grow against our will and without our full participation." Each of us must willingly give our will to the Lord and trust that he will make us our best and bring about our greatest joy. I, personally, am grateful for not always being granted the blessings I seek for myself. Little by little, and often in hindsight, we learn to recognize the Lord's hand in our lives. I've definitely seen that in my own life recently and am so grateful that the "chairman", ahem, I mean that the man upstairs exists ;)
