At the risk of sounding like I’ve been living under a rock my whole life (which I’ve discovered I have… in this area at least), I wanted to share something in case there is someone else that hasn’t heard about this either. A few weeks ago, I heard about a movie called “The Pilgrim’s Progress.” I didn’t entirely know what it was about, but I felt strongly that it was a movie that I should watch with my kids. At the time, I couldn’t find it anywhere, except for directly from the company that made it so I ordered a copy of the DVD (which is pretty rare for us since we just don’t watch/buy that many movies for some reason). The DVD came towards the end of the week last week so on Friday morning, the kids and I sat down and watched it, not really knowing what to expect.
We were pleasantly surprised and were deeply moved by the messages and principles that were portrayed through the story. We are all on a journey through this life. We are headed towards the Celestial City. We all face hard things that help to strengthen and change us. Heaven sends help whenever we need and want it.
I mean, of course, I already knew these principles and facts. They are taught throughout the scriptures and in other books that I’ve read. But I hadn’t before seen it all portrayed, all together, visually, and imagination-stirring quite like this had. The movie ended with me crying and us all feeling so inspired and motivated to keep moving forward on our own personal journeys.
The definition of a Pilgrim is a wanderer or a traveler; and in scripture, it is one that has a temporary residence on earth. I am a pilgrim. You are a pilgrim. All of us are pilgrims. This world is not our real home. “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.” (Pierre Teilhard de Chardin) The truth is that we are away from home and we are here on a journey, an adventure. We are here for a purpose and we have a great destination to work towards.
To give you an idea of how inspiring it was, after the movie was over, I asked my boys to go write about what they felt and learned from this story. …
This is what they each wrote, with no help from me (shared with permission):
Landon: “We watched a movie today. It is called Pilgrim’s Progress. It is about life. I will try not to listen to Satan. I will try to listen to the Holy Ghost. I will forgive people. I will repent. I will make good choices. I will have hope. I will have faith.”
Porter: “We watched the Pilgrim’s Progress. It talked about not giving up. I will face hard challenges in life. Sometimes I will heed them (the voices), mostly I will not. We need to get to the Celestial City. Follow Jesus. I learned to face my fears. Be good. Be righteous.”
We were all so moved by this movie and it’s message that we couldn’t wait for Jershon to watch it with us so that we would all be on the same page and be able to talk about it together. So we watched it again on Sunday afternoon. We have been able to relate this allegory to our own lives multiple times over the past few days.
And now we are reading the book… well, a more children’s friendly version of it. I’m also planning to read the original, unabridged version myself as well.
If you’ve been living under a rock like me and hadn’t heard about this either, here’s a quick tidbit about this book… “The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That Which Is to Come” is a religious allegory, written by the English writer John Bunyan (written while he was in prison for sharing his faith). It was published in the late 1600s. The work is a symbolic vision of the good man’s pilgrimage through life. At one time it was second only to the Bible in popularity. It is regarded as one of the most significant works of religious English literature, has been translated into more than 200 languages, and has never been out of print.
I would highly recommend the movie (which is now available for rent and purchase on Amazon Prime). And read the book if you haven’t. 🙂
