Who Are These Children Coming Down?

“Who are these children coming down?” The opening line to one of my favorite songs from one of my new favorite movies, Saturday’s Warrior. I grew up watching the 1989 version of this show and was obsessed with it as a child. I loved the music, loved the story, but mostly loved the music. As many of you know Fairy Tales are one of my favorite things (Snow White being my favorite one, especially the Once Upon A Time version). I love the hope that they give. Saturday’s Warrior is just a Mormon fairy tale, and I love it for that. It is an emotional roller coaster that I really enjoy. I have seen the movie twice now, and there have been a lot of thoughts that have come through my mind as I pondered the things that I felt and thought of while I watched this movie. This is not going to be my most coherent post ever, but hopefully something will come from it. If nothing it will give me a place to put some thoughts/feelings out there.

Let me start with my favorite two characters in the movie: Julie and Todd. Julie and Todd are great. These two made the movie for me more than anyone else (and the actors are WAY nice, two of the most genuine people I have ever met).

Their story is a beautiful one, and a sad one at the same time. We start the movie with Julie and Todd asking to be sent to earth in the same town, or at least at the same time, so that they can find one another. They sing my favorite song from the movie/play, “Circle of Our Love” and Todd is born. They promise to find one another during the song. Now, in doctrine according to Kevin, I don’t believe that there is only one person that I am destined to be with, like the Julie and Todd situation. I just don’t think that is how it works, but I DO believe that there are relationships in my life that I have that are just a continuation from the pre-mortal existence. When I was set apart as a missionary my Stake President said during the blessing something to the effect of, “You will find people who you knew before this life who you cared about, and they cared about, and you will help each other return to the presence of your Heavenly Father.” Now I don’t remember the exact words, because that was 7 and a half years ago and I wasn’t smart enough to right that down, but I truly believe that. I had a couple of experiences in the mission that confirmed that for me with one of my companions and one of the people I taught (who right now is serving a mission). A couple of months ago I was in the temple after having a rough time and I prayed about a lot of things and these same words came to my mind and I immediately could think of six people who I just know I knew from before. There is no other way to explain the deep feelings I have towards these people, the immediate and deep friendships, and the complete and utter trust I have with them. I believe that I knew some of the people in my life before and I have this really intense feeling that before we were born we said we would find each other in this life and be friends, helping each other in the path to return to our Heavenly Home. Heaven wouldn’t be heaven without the friends I have. (I am not going to list you, but some of you (hopefully) are reading this and you should hopefully know who you are because I have always told you how much I love and care about you!)

So we flash to earth life, and it is hard. All of the Flinders are very different than they were in the pre-mortal existence. Jimmy was spiritually strong and motivate to do what’s right, but on earth he questions everything about his faith and doesn’t remember the promises he made before. Pam was a dancer and just wanted to dance her way through life, but is confined to a wheelchair. Julie is basically engaged to a missionary . . . Life is just not what they had expected. After a fight with his parents Jimmy runs from the house and comes back later to find Pam playing basketball in the driveway. They start talking and Jimmy asks Pam, “Is this the plan you had for your life?” Pam looks at Jimmy and says, “No. It’s not, but it is HIS plan.” Okay, so she is living in a wheelchair, in constant pain, and eventually tragedy strikes (kind of a spoiler, but the play has been out since the 70’s . . .). She just keeps the faith and is living the gospel the way she knows she should. What an example of courage in adversity! Is my life going the way I had planned it to? No, not really if I am completely honest. It is not going the way that I planned it, but it is definitely going the way that God is planning it, and if I am REALLY honest, I am having a hard time figuring out how to completely trust in the Lord. How does one submit to the Lord’s will and figure out what His plan for their life is? How do I trust Him? How do I trust that He really is listening as I pray and not ignoring me when I pray for things that I think are not too much to ask? How do I trust that He really is there?

Jimmy kind of goes through all of that. He leaves home, gets involved in drinking and drugs (and implied sex). He suffers some pretty tragic situations and sings the song, “Brace Me Up” in which he pleads for someone to help him. “Isn’t there a someone with a hand to spare, who can share what they have for my hunger? Isn’t there a someone who can take me as I am?” Jimmy has a faith crisis. Jimmy hits rock bottom, and then the Lord works a miracle with him through his unborn sister coming and leading him home. Life can be rough. Life can be pretty dang challenging. I have been feeling pretty blah lately. I have been feeling like I have been crying like Jimmy for someone to brace me up, to lift me up, and to help me move forward. I have been down and doubting, but today I have been blessed in ways that I know are the Lord reaching out to me. An awesome and impromptu movie invitation and a call on the phone from someone asking me how I am doing. Miracles do happen and I am grateful for it.

Todd comes to Earth and his life sucks. No other way to say it. His father is abusive, his mother is an alcoholic, and he ends up running away as a child and growing up not know who he is. He sits in the park drawing. A change from the play to the movie is that he draws pictures of people he sees in his mind, but hasn’t met. He had drawn a picture of Jimmy two years prior to meeting him and has drawn a picture of Julie. He doesn’t know who he is, but he does have an inkling that “There’s got to be more to this life,” and eventually is contacted by the missionaries and instantly recognizes the truth. Of course he ends up finding Julie and we are lead to believe that they have their happily ever after. Like Todd, we all can have questions and doubts. We can all be “lost” and feel glimpses of truth and catch glimpses of the eternities. What is important though is what Todd did. He learned the truth and then did something about it. What are we all doing about the truths that we learn and know? Are we doing anything with them, or are we just hearing them and then doing nothing about it? We just had the opportunity to learn from the leaders of the church during General Conference, so now it comes to us to do something about the truths that we learned. I felt the spirit a lot. One of the things that I felt was how loved I truly am, which is something that I have been doubting a lot recently. I can’t count how many talks spoke about the love that not only the brethren have, but also the love that my Heavenly Father has for me. He knows me and loves me. I need to remember that always and do something with that truth.

Saturday’s Warrior is a movie about a lot of things, but mostly for me it is about figuring out who you are. It is about figuring out what God’s plan is and doing something about it. We are all blessed to be unique people. Something that I noticed in the movie is how unique every character is, and how valued they are. Something that I have been working on with my life coach is accepting my uniqueness as a good thing. Being unique allows me to have a different perspective. It allows me to be me. My uniqueness is to be celebrated. I am not the same as everyone around me. I am my own person with my own strengths, my own weaknesses, my own thoughts and opinions, and my own experiences. I am of value and have something special to offer to those around me, and SO DO YOU.  Each of us are valuable and important. Each of us is unique. We all have value, are important, and belong. We are all loved. I love you all and hope that you can feel my love. I am just going to end with the last couple of lines from the song “Saturday’s Warrior” because they fill me with hope and love. “With glory trailing from their feet as they go, and endless promise in their eyes.”