Beastly

We had such a great weekend, the weather has been amazing! Friday evening, some friends and I went to see the movie "beastly". It is a present day beauty and the beast I guess you could say. Not my most favorite flick, but definitely worth the time. The story begins much different than the Disney version, we meet an arrogant, handsome young high schooler running for student body president and his slogan to win is something like "being a looser sucks". He is later on cursed by the school goth girl, aka witch and loses all his hair, becomes scarred so that his is unrecognizable. His father moves him away from the city and then disappears claiming to be too busy to spend time with him. The only people the "beast" has contact with is the housekeeper and a blind tutor (Neil Patrick Harris aka the comedy relief for the story). He has a crush on a girl before becoming the beast and seeks her out on a daily basis, just to watch her from afar and learn more about her. Eventually we learn this girl aka beauty has a father who is a drug addict. She is put in danger when a drug deal goes bad and then the beast steps in to save her and makes a deal with her dad to allow her to come and live with him where she will be safe. You know the rest of the story....they fall in love and live happily ever after!

The big shocker for me was what the beast says later in the story as he begs the witch to release the curse on him. She tells him she cannot lift the curse because he still only thinks of himself. he begs her once more but this time says, "if you cannot help me, there are other people in my life who are hurting and aching more than I am. Please allow them to see and to be whole again". This really stuck with me and I was reminded of Christ as he took our place on the cross. We are hurting and aching, but Jesus said, punish me Father, me.....allow them to have peace and joy and to be whole again!!! What a powerful message in just those 2 minutes of the movie. It is just amazing what you can get from a chick flick;) I long to look at others and think, let them be whole, full and forgiven....punish me Father!