God Calling was not the movie I went looking for. Yet it was a fitting part of my pre Easter preparation. The setting was Nigeria, which infused the colors, and traditions, and music of that culture into the plot. A woman was wrangling with addiction and estrangement from religion, when her phone rang. God was calling. It baffled her. Made her angry. Then when her only daughter was killed in an accident she might have prevented she sank even deeper into grief. But God kept reaching out to her. 

 

The movies that speak to me are those that swivel from despair to peace. I hunger for stories in which people discover the freedom to climb out of hopelessness. In this movie the mother reclaims inspiration, even without her precious child. Her acceptance is rooted on belief in eternal life, which is my foot hold as well. 

 

The events leading up to Good Friday are dark with betrayal, torture, and death. But those shadows only serve to provide contrast to the elation of Easter morning, and the unutterable power of a risen Lord. If we artificially edit out the middle.... Jesus was alive on Wednesday, and then He was still alive on Sunday... there would be no reason to shout for joy. 

 

If only I can retrieve this when my own circumstances sinks into confusion.