Benjamin Button:  Our lives are defined by opportunities, even the ones we miss.

~quote from The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (PG-13)  

I just re-watched this film this past weekend, its obvious why there were so many award nominations for this movie.  The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a fantastic story and highly entertaining.  There are shares of very odd moments, as you can imagine, but all in all it’s quite the adventure following the backwards life of Benjamin Button.  One of the film’s best qualities is finishing what it starts… there are several little stories within the story and to see them all come full circle is a breath of fresh air.  If you have not yet seen it, it is well worth the rental fee from your local Blockbuster, RedBox, Movie Gallery... or NetFlix if that’s what you fancy.

I thoroughly enjoyed the writing for this movie; it’s the little details that make this film shine.  One of the blurbs of Benjamin’s narration spoke of the opportunities we encounter in life and how our lives are shaped by what we do with them… or in some cases, don’t do.  The important piece that jumped out to me is the fact that our lives are not only shaped by the opportunities we choose to act upon, but also by the ones we choose to pass by.  These opportunities missed often affect our lives equally as great as those met head-on, the thing with missed ones… we never really know.

By no means do I think we should grab every opportunity by the horns, but I think we should attempt to exercise more wisdom when choosing which moments to seize.  Often we let opportunities pass by without a thought even given to them.  Let this be received as a challenge to engage more in the things around you; the moments… the opportunities that you normally would simply let pass by.  At least grab hold of them for a moment so that you can better evaluate, with wisdom, what you should do.  Often it’s too difficult to know before you take that first step if the opportunity is going to become good or bad… ask for wisdom.^(a)

Make no mistake, our history is written by the opportunities we seise along with the ones we don't, but it is God who defines who we truly are.^{(b, c, d)}

a: James 1:5; b: John 3:16; c: Romans 10:9-10; d: 2 Corinthians 5:17

(thought history)