I mentioned in my Hunger Games post yesterday that our family went to a real, live, full priced, movie together.  Ok not actually the same movie together, but we did go to a real, live, full priced movie theater together.

If you’re questioning the drama of that statement, you probably don’t have four kids.  Paying full price for a family of six can be quite a hit to the pocketbook…not to mention if you want popcorn as well!!  {gulp…}  And after seeing those charming dancing condiments, how can you not go get some popcorn?!!

We are “cheap seat” movie goers; we have a theater here in Madison that charges $2.50 to see a movie.  Granted, the movies they play are in film purgatory; the place in between the heavenly high of newly released to the Sheol despair of home video.  But for a family whose chance to see a new release is few and far between, our “cheap seats” are equivalent to a two-hour Nirvana to us.

But how God orchestrated it so we were able to go to a real, live, full price movie theater was just so sweet…

First off, when my husband and my oldest daughter finished reading The Hunger Games, God allowed the release of the movie that following weekend!!  My daughter’s class planned an informal outing to see it together and planned to discuss the movie in class on Monday, however because of time restraints she wasn’t able to join them.

So her father said he and she would go together before Monday, and because God had provided a generous gift card as a Christmas gift several months before, to the real, live, full price, movie theater, the whole family could go!

When we got there, we decided that we would spend a little money for popcorn and soda.  Don’t worry, we were going to go for the large size so we could get a free refill…but still, that was going to cost us practically what we pay for the whole family to see a movie at the cheap seats!  But, we bit the bullet and stood in line to order our popcorn.

“And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried.”   Luke 12:29

As soon as we placed our order, the cashier told us that there was a $10 credit on the movie deals card we presented and we would be upgraded to the large size for the price of a medium, so that credit took care of our snacks!!

Woo-hoo!

“He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted.”   Job 9:10

We went to our separate ways, my hubby and my daughter to The Hunger Games, and my other daughter, the boys and I went to a movie more my size:

The Lorax.

Now, I was a bit apprehensive about this movie…because I have seen other Dr. Seuss movies and have not been overly impressed…but with The Lorax, I was pleasantly surprised.  It was a very cute movie and I enjoyed it very much!

Although one of the songs from the movie really saddened me.  It very accurately portrayed this world we live in, and hit very close to home; (just read my recent post I’m a whine-o).   How we as sinful creatures want more, think we deserve more, we watch out for ourselves, and are willing to hurt other people to get what we feel we deserve, and then convince ourselves it’s ok…

“There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.”   Proverbs 14:12

Ed Helms – How Bad Can I Be? [from “Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax” Animation (2012)] 

How bad can I be?
I’m just doing what comes naturally
How bad can I be?
I’m just following my destiny
How bad can I be?
I’m just doing what comes naturally
How bad can I be?
How bad can I possibly be?

Well there’s a principle of nature
That almost every creature knows
Called survival of the fittest
And check it this is how it goes
The animal that eats has got to scratch and fight
And claw and bite and punch
And the animal that doesn’t
Winds up someone else’s lunch

There’s a principle in business
That everybody knows is sound
It says the people with the money
Make this ever loving world go ’round
So I’m biggering my company
I’m biggering my factory
I’m biggering my corporate sign
Everybody out there can take care of yours
And me? I’ll take care of mine mine mine mine mine

Satan wants us to live for ourselves, because that is the direct opposite of what God’s Word tells us to do.  Our enemy tries to convince us that if we don’t already have it we need it, we need a lot of it, we need bigger versions of it, and we need it now!

“Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!— assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.”   Ephesians 4:17-24

But God’s way is best, and it’s obvious that deep down we are built to know that too… and praise the One in whose image we are created!!