Interstellar and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

So I've been wanting to write something about this for months, but just keep putting it off for some unknown reason.  I actually ended up finally writing something in August but never really publishing it.  And it's been almost a year since the film was released (November 7th) so I figured it was a good time to revisit this.

Let me start by saying that Nate and I absolutely, 100%, no questions asked, LOVED Interstellar.  It's one of our favorite movies.  I mean, we were both crying like 20 minutes into the movie!  We got home after our first viewing and just laid in bed, unsure of what to say or how to even express how we felt.  It was just so grand.  It's indescribable.  And the soundtrack gets us every time.  We went to the theaters twice to see it, and we rarely go to the actual, really expensive, theater even once.

I believe it was after Nate watched it for a fourth time that he came to me with a really great thought.  Interstellar is an amazing representation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  This will be especially applicable to members of the LDS church but I believe most Christians can relate to most of it as well.  The correlations are not necessarily in chronological order, it's not perfect, and I'm no writer, but this is as good as I can do.

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Spoilers ahead...

In the beginning of the film, we are presented with a world that is no longer suitable for humans.  They have done all they can and will only be able to survive a few more generations.  They have reached the end of their progression as they currently know it.

Before our time here on earth we lived with God in Heaven and learned from him.  But there came a point where, in order to progress any further, we needed to come to Earth to gain a body and to learn on our own, away from God's immediate presence.

Before Cooper comes in contact with NASA and leaves, he teaches his children everything they know.  He gives them instruction, he provides them with books and opportunities to learn.  He prepares them for the time when he is gone from them.  He gives Murph the watch to remind her that they are connected, even though they will be, literally, galaxies apart.

Our Heavenly Father is all knowing.  He is our loving parent who knows what is best for us and he wants the best for us.  He has provided scriptures for us to learn and has instilled in us the desire to learn!  He provides us with small reminders that he is always in our lives, and even when we cannot see him we can see symbols in our world to remind us of his existence.  

When Cooper is away from his children they are unable to communicate with each other.  The children are able to relay basic messages to Cooper but there is no way for him to respond to them.  Some of his most treasured moments in space are listening to the messages the children have sent.  He is so happy when Murph finally sends a message after so many years and he is devastated when Tom decides he no longer believes anyone is listening to him.

When we are here on Earth, the only way to communicate to our Heavenly Father is through prayer.  Even though he cannot directly talk back to us, he rejoices when we talk to Him.  He wants to hear about our struggles, our triumphs, our doubts and fears.  Even if it has been 30 years since we have prayed, he wants us to start!  We are never too unworthy or too far gone to start praying.  We also cause great sorrow when we turn to doubters.  It is so easy to doubt when God communicates to us in unusual ways.

We come to learn, partway through the movie, about the character of Dr. Mann.  When he is first presented to us we see him as a hero and pioneer.  He is one of us, just another astronaut who wants to help find the planet mankind will one day settle.  When we finally meet Dr. Mann we learn how selfish he is.  He tricked Cooper's team into coming to his planet by sending false signals of hope.  From a distance they looked like positive signals, exactly the same as the positive signals sent by other astronauts.  He outright lied.  The only indication Cooper's team may have that they should not go to Dr. Mann's planet is that Dr. Brand just feels that Edmond's planet is better.  She cannot describe it, except to say that maybe it's love drawing her to Edmond.  It is a feeling that transcended space and time and one that the others on the crew did not completely understand.

At the great Council in Heaven, two plans for progression were presented.  The first by our brother, Jesus Christ, and the second by our other brother, Lucifer.  Lucifer seems to have good intentions by telling us that in his plan, we will all return to live with God one day.  However, he desired all the glory and his selfishness was revealed.  He continues to think only of himself.  He deceives us today by sending us false signals.  He disguises the bad to look and sound good.  On first glance, we may not notice any difference between what he tells us is good and what God tells us is good.  In fact, one of the only ways to distinguish between these is through the Holy Ghost.  It whispers to us and helps us determine right from wrong.  Sometimes, there is no logical explanation for what we feel and there is no way to describe it to another person.  It, like the love Brand talks about, transcends time and space.

Throughout the movie, it is Cooper and Murph's relationship that is the strongest, even though they are apart.  Murph is the one person who believes in her dad until the end.  Sure, she had a rocky start, and doubt is placed when she learns there may never have been an answer to Dr. Brand's equation, but she doesn't let her fears and doubt rule her faith.  She dedicates her entire life to learning about the mission of her dad.  She works hard to keep this faith in her dad.  On the other hand, her brother Tom, quickly loses faith.  Hard times in his life, such as his son dying, take him further from his father.  He loses all hope of Cooper returning.

We can have a passive relationship to God, or an active one.  It takes work for us to retain our faith in him.  We need to be doing all we can to learn about him, about his mission, and what our part in his whole plan is.  We cannot let hard times get us down.  If we stop praying (communicating) we will quickly lose faith.  This is a lifelong journey and it is easy to give up, especially when times are tough.

In the end, it is Murph that is reunited with Cooper.  After all of her dedication, hard work, and unwavering faith, she is the one he is most excited to see.  She loves her father even more than when he left her.  The reunion is a sweet one that includes many other generations of Cooper's.  Tom is nowhere to be seen.  He gave up on his dad years ago and doubtfully ever made it off Earth.

After this life, it will be the children who are faithful who will return to live with our Heavenly Father.  We will be excited to see him!  The hardships of Earth-life will all be worth it when we are reunited.

Time is one of the hardest aspects of this movie to understand.  Three hours to some characters are decades to others.  Cooper has barely aged a day and Murph grows into an old woman.  In the fifth dimension, Cooper is able to be in every moment of Murph's life all at once.  He hasn't time traveled exactly, he just is.  He is there in her room at the exact moment she needs it and he finds ways to communicate with her that she can understand.  The fifth dimension is not something Murph, who is on Earth, can comprehend.  She just knows that Cooper is somehow communicating with her.  She rediscovers the watch which is how she is able to translate messages from the other side.  We also learn that "them" is really us.  Time and space are so much more than we ever imagined they could be.

Time is not what we think it is.  In Heaven, time runs differently, if at all.  Heavenly Father is able to be in every part of our lives, and the lives of those around us.  It isn't through any means we can begin to comprehend, it just is.  He gives us tools to communicate and translate messages from the other side such as prayer, the Holy Spirit, and books of scripture.  There are also others just like us, on the other side, who are trying to help us through life.  "Them" is us.  We are "them".  We are continually progressing to become like God even though we cannot understand all of his workings.

Regardless of whether or not you enjoyed the movie, I hope you're able to take some time this Sunday to reflect on your own life and relationship with God.

Stronger Than Me

I came across a  blog a few days ago that has struck me at my core.  It's written by a woman named Ashlee who, three years ago, found out her husband was having an affair only after he was murdered by his mistress's husband.  In one night her world, and the world of her five young children, was shattered.  I read about her story on a separate blog and just couldn't believe that could happen to someone.  Especially a young Mormon couple who had been married in the temple only seven years (I believe) earlier.

In January she just started writing down her story on this blog and it has attracted quite a lot of attention.

Here's the thing I love about her writing.  While 99.9999% of the population have no idea of what it's like to go through something like she did, she always relates her posts back to what we can all do to be better people.  She has this way of saying that even though your circumstance isn't hers, you can still learn to forgive for small things, you need to pay more attention to your children, say "I love you", use your spiritual gifts, thank those around you etc.  Every post ends with an uplifting thought of how we can make our own lives better.  On more than one occasion I have read something that I just needed to read.  It's given me much to think about and a starting point for setting goals for myself and my relationship with my own husband.

Another thing that I'm absolutely amazed by is her ability to remember all the good times with her husband.  She has every right to hate his guts for the decisions he was making.  And yet, she acknowledges that that's what they were.  They were decisions and they were bad ones, but he was a good person.  In almost every post she recounts stories from their past...how they met, their wedding day, when children were born.  She doesn't let the end of his life change the way she will remember him.  Now, she talks about the grief and pain and anger she felt about what his actions put their family though, but she still tells her kids about how great their dad was and how much she misses him.  It's beautiful.

I don't know how exactly the next life will work.  I don't know how his actions will have an effect on the eternal covenants they made in the temple.  But I wouldn't be surprised if her love and support of him is enough to carry both of them into eternal happiness.  I just can't describe how inspiring it is to read about someone who is learning to forgive a spouse who has done the unthinkable.  I hope that one day, when I make a mistake, or when Nate does, we will both have the courage to stand up for each other and stick by one another no matter what.  Because that's what we promised each other we would do.  No matter what.

In today's world, people get divorced left and right.  Things don't go smooth so they end.  Well, I can tell you, even six months of marriage hasn't been perfect for us.  I'm not sure if the first week was perfect!  As much as I love my husband we will both make plenty of mistakes and let our weaknesses show.  I just want to be strong enough to say that they don't matter.

I am thankful that I ran across this blog because it has given me so much to think about and will continue to provide insight to me on how to be a better person, wife, and one day mother.

The blog is The Moments We Stand and I would encourage anyone and everyone to take a minute (or a couple of hours...) to read.  It's best, in my opinion, to start from the first posts and read them in order because she is writing her story in chronological order.

The Blind Chef: An Inspiration

I was in a meeting for work last week when someone showed this clip for a little inspirational thought.

I loved it!  (As a side note, she went on to win the entire competition) I loved it so much that I shared it for an inspirational thought in the Health Center's morning meeting the next day.  This is such a good reminder for all of us that we can't always "see" our potential.  We can do our very best and we may not see the results right away but we are capable of so much more than we think we are.  And while we don't know our own potentials, our Heavenly Father does.  He knows what our weaknesses are, but he also knows how to comfort us and how to encourage us to be better.  We all have different challenges and not many of us are literally blind...but I believe we are all blind to our own abilities on more occasions than we wish to admit.  So let's remember that we are capable of so much more.  That we can do great things.  That we will feel inadequate all the time and that its a good thing because it means we're going to grow into a better person.  I am grateful for a Heavenly Father who knows what I am capable of and I am grateful for a husband who expects me to be better than I am and who loves me enough to stick with me through all the inadequacies and trials I may face.  They both make me want to be better.