"Boyhood" and "Simply Live"

Was watching the 2hour 45minute long movie "Boyhood" yesterday and never expected it to have such a profound impact on me.

This movie has 6 academy award nominations and a host of other nominations like the Golden Globe Award nominations and all. Shot over 12 years, this movie is really the first of its kind. Here's the movie trailer:



The movie was rather boring at the start as you just watch the boy grow up. I nearly gave up. LOL. But I persevered! HAHA. #strong #resilient #soldieron

As the movie developed, you begin to see the struggles of the father, mother and child mainly from the protagonist, Mason's perspective. The movie painted a very real and deep picture of fatherhood, motherhood and childhood and asks a very powerful question: What's the purpose of life?

The movie starts with the boy in his childhood years growing up - seeing his parents fight and then divorce. Then seeing his mum remarry to a professor - a promising father at first sight - but turned out to be an abusive husband and father which led to another divorce. And all the while, Mason and his sister, Samantha were still in contact with their ex-father, who turned out to be an excellent father.

3 main parts of the movie really hit me and brought home a powerful message:

1) It's all about timing

At 2hr23mins where Mason had a heart to heart talk with his ex-dad.

Here Mason senior talks about timing - where he wasn't ready to shoulder the responsibility of having kids with Mason's mum because he was still in the having-fun and finding-yourself-go-crazy-YOLO stage in life.

In Mason's ex-dad's words:

"I think I probably turned into the boring, castrated guy she wanted me to be 15, 20 years ago you know? I'm not saying she was wrong to be pissed, I'm not. I'm just saying that she could've been a little more patient, a little more forgiving."

And Mason aptly replies "And that would've saved me that parade of drunken assholes", referring to all the other screwed up husbands she got together with after his ex-dad.

So, it wasn't really that Mason's ex-dad's marriage couldn't work out with Mason's mum, it's just wrong timing.

And this is a really important principle in life too. To seize the right opportunity at the wrong time would simply mean disaster.

2) What's life about?

At 2hr26mins their conversation took a very deep philosophical turn which really hit me hard too.

Mason asked his ex-dad this potent question which everyone either ignores, half-answers it or answers it square in the face.

"So what's the point? What's the point of everything?"

His ex-dad replied really honestly:

"Everything? I mean, I sure as shit don't know. Neither does anybody else okay? We're all just winging it, you know? The good news is that you're feeling stuff. And you've got to hold on to that. I mean, you get older and you don't feel as much. Your skin gets tougher."

He also sees that his mum is just as confused with life as he is as an 18 year old seen in his conversation with his girlfriend at like 3am at some supper outlet:

"Basically she's still as fuckin' confused as I am."

Here you see his dad's explanation - as you go along life, your skin gets tougher, you start to feel less and start to do more of what society tells you to do. This is the first sign of jaded-ness.

"Everyone's putting on a show!" is what his ex-dad is trying to say. We're all faking it. Trying to look good when we really don't know what the hell we're on earth for.

Such a sad truth. But is it truth? Is life just a century long skit?

3) I thought there was more to life than this

At 2hr32mins was the most potent part of the movie and it hit me and my tear ducts real hard too.

Here, you have Mason's mum, Olivia, watching her son pack up his things to shift to another state to go to college (or university for our Singaporean case).

And she begins to sob profusely. These are her potent words in between tears, laden with so much sadness and jadedness:

"You know what I'm realizing? My life is just gonna go, like that. This series of milestones: Getting married. Having kids. Getting divorced. The time where I thought you were dyslexic, when I taught you how to ride a bike. Getting divorced, again. Getting my master's degree. Finally getting the job I wanted. Sending Samantha off to college, sending you off to college. You know what's next? Huh? It's my fuckin' funeral!...I just, thought there would be more."

Her last few words "I just thought there would be more" brought tears to my eyes. It made me realize that...there are so many people out there, chasing the American dream, or for our context, chasing the Singaporean dream of the 5Cs...

Cash

Car

Credit card

Condominium

Country club membership

...only to realize that at the end of this life...What's the point of all these? What good is all these that we're building? Is there more to life than this?

Here you're looking into the eyes of an accomplished career woman and mum who has it all - a great job, a stable career, significance as a lecturer, good friends, a good family with promising kids, a good education, etc...

And I love how she words it. What's next? It's gonna be her FUNERAL.

Such is life. We chase after all these things in vain. It is exactly what King Solomon said in the first 4 verses of his book, Ecclesiastes:

"The words of the Teacher, son of David, king of Jerusalem:

‘Meaningless! Meaningless!’

says the Teacher.

‘Utterly meaningless!

Everything is meaningless.’

What do people gain from all their labours

at which they toil under the sun?

Generations come and generations go,

but the earth remains for ever."

A more contemporary version of what King Solomon said would sound like what Adele sang in her song "Chasing Pavements":

Should I give up or should I just keep chasing pavements

Even if it leads nowhere?

An even more recent song that would reflect mankind's aimless chase of fame and being "cool" can be found in Echosmith's "Cool Kids" song lyrics:

He sees them talking with a big smile

But they haven't got a clue

Yeah, they're living the good life

Can't see what he is going through

They're driving fast cars

But they don't know where they're going

In the fast lane, living life without knowing

And he says

I wish that I could be like the cool kids

'Cause all the cool kids, they seem to fit in

I wish that I could be like the cool kids

Like the cool kids

What an irony! He sees that "they haven't got a clue", "can't see what he is going through", "they don't know where they're going" and "living life without knowing" but YET, he still wants to be like them - the cool kids!

Lady Gaga also tells us clearly her life's philosophy in her song "Applause":

I live for the applause, applause, applause

I live for the applause-plause

Live for the applause-plause

Live for the way that you cheer and scream for me

The applause, applause, applause

Our lives have been sadly reduced to what others' think of us. We live our lives trying to please everyone else. Such a sad, meaningless spiral of mankind.

Indeed, everything is meaningless. Without God and the hope in His eternal kingdom, all is but empty and momentary.

At the end of the movie, I felt the Holy Spirit's stirring in my Spirit and I knew it was time again to take my guitar, lock myself in the room and have some time with Him.

As I began to sing "Amazed" by 33Miles in worship to God, tears began flowing down my face and I began sobbing like mad. The lyrics were:

When all the lights go down

And the world is quiet, no one else around

I wanna be the same man that'll serve You then

Like I serve You now

Let my convictions never change

Oh, let my need for You remain

As real as the moment I was saved

So I will always stand amazed

I was just telling God through my sobs "Let my heart never lose sight of You. Let me never be so jaded with life that I begin to lose hope for living like them. Let my hope be in You, for always and forever"

And my prayer echoes the one prayed by David in Psalms 39:5-7:

"You have given me only a short life; my lifetime is like nothing to You. Everyone's life is only a breath. People are like shadows moving about. All their work is for nothing; they collect things but don't know who will get them. So Lord, what hope do I have? You are my hope."

The Holy Spirit begin to fill me up again and assure me that my hope in Him is strong, secure and founded in an eternal, omnipotent, omniscient being that founded a kingdom that cannot be shaken, Hebrews 12:26-28:

"At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, ‘Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.’ The words ‘once more’ indicate the removing of what can be shaken – that is, created things – so that what cannot be shaken may remain.
Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our ‘God is a consuming fire.’ "

I felt so loved and reassured by the Holy Spirit then and He inspired in me this song called "Simply Live" which is really the theme He gave me this 2015.

So, the Holy Spirit simply told me, to simply live. To live a loving, carefree, uncomplicated life that knows that its hope is in heaven and not in the things of this world.

So I will never break down asking myself "Is there more to life than this?" because I know that there is. I will not be confused with the purpose and meaning of life because I know that we're all placed here for one sole purpose: to know God. All else is utilitarian, temporary, secondary and tertiary purposes of life.

I am so thankful for that moment with God. That reassurance of His hand in my life, of the season He is leading me through, of His love and protection over me, is priceless.

I love you Jesus, always and forever.