Choosing to believe

               I have often thought about what to me is a very powerful scene in the movie Henry Poole is Here since first seeing it at the theater in 2008.  Henry, the main character, receives a terminal diagnosis as the story begins and just wants to “disappear” quietly when he moves into a house in the neighborhood where he grew up.  However, life takes a very different direction, one with wonderful results not only for Henry but for others whose lives are also changed in dramatic ways.

               One of those characters is Patience, interestingly enough, a young girl who works at the local grocery store and very innocently, tries to engage Henry when he goes through her line.  The girl has very thick glasses, which would probably cause her to be self-conscious and perhaps even teased.  As the story progresses, a stain on a stucco wall on the back of Henry’s house becomes associated with the face of Christ.  Even drops of blood appear from nowhere on the wall.  Word gets around about the face and the power that comes when people approach the wall with hope and a desire to be helped by God. That word gets to Patience.

               One day, Henry returns from being out to find Patience kneeling right at the base of the wall.  Her glasses are off, and she seems to be experiencing the restoration of her eyesight as she looks at her fingers with wonder and joy.  Henry comes alongside her; he seems unsure of what is happening but embraces her and recognizes the excitement of this moment for this sweet girl.  That first time I watched this unfold, I was struck by the power experiencing such miracles can have.  Unbridled joy, true awe at what would otherwise be impossible can “speak” volumes about God’s love and His goodness often questioned in today’s world.  Surely that was part of why Jesus often healed those who approached Him with faith.

               My husband and I rented the movie a few days ago because I wanted to see that hope and joyous celebration of God’s healing and grace again.  I wanted to see the story about the power of hope, love and faith in God.  But the movie had another scene with Patience and Henry that I had forgotten, one that also has an important message to convey.  Not long after Patience receives her sight, Henry more cheerfully comes to her checkout line and returns her glasses.  He begins by asking if she has been to her doctor, but the conversation moves into a brief discussion about whether things in life always need an explanation.  Patience says, “Sometimes things just happen because we choose for them to.  I chose to believe.” 

               Choosing to believe is like just saying “no” to drugs; both are much easier said than done.  And this great movie in the end is only that—just a movie.  But for me, it is also a reminder of the beauty of receiving great blessings by the hand and power of God, a beauty that impacts many with the demonstration of God’s goodness, and the importance of what we choose to believe.