part of my paper for religion and film...

I suppose that my own definition of the term “miracle” would be something of divine origin, something that no human, animal, or earthly creature is in control of. I believe we can, of course, play our part in miracles, but in the end God is in control. I often find that sometimes my days or weeks are themed (almost like every episode of 7^th Heaven). For example, over the past couple of days the theme of the power of choice was clearly being pointed out to me. I had been dwelling on the song “wise up” from Magnolia for a while now because I really enjoyed it and downloaded it on itunes. That song is all about turning away from the current situation you are in: “it's not going to stop 'till you wise up.” I later watched the movie Spider Man 3 which greatly demonstrated the power of choice using the example of Harry (the son of the Green Goblin) who was walking in the same steps as his father and then through his choices became a hero who saved the day. Later that night I read an email that was a devotional about choice that ended on this phrase: “We make our decisions and then our decisions make us.” That really stood out to me. I also read an email from my father that night that also spoke to me about choice and the things in life that we cannot take back once we have chosen to do them. Through all of this I saw that there was a choice I had to make in my life. It was a difficult choice to make, but I see that it was the right thing to do and I have a great peace about it. I do believe this to be a miraculous event.

Bear claw

It has been said "Those who suffer most are those who do not know what they want." I find that this is a very true statement and I believe this to be true of those who know what they want but who they want doesn't know what they want.