It's a wonderful wife!
FAMILY MAN Rating PG
If you are a James Stewart fan and your Christmas is not complete without another screening of It's a wonderful life, this could be the film for you.
The plot revolves around 'What if a different decision was made...?' Set in America, the adult Nick Cage leaves his girlfriend for a course in London, his big break. His girlfriend pleads at the airport terminal for him to stay, feeling he may never return to her. He tenderly refuses. Now some 18 years later, the story is picked up back in the USA. He is now a successful high flyer, oozing with money, and all material trappings, but ... single.
His girlfriend's fears have been realised. It is Christmas Eve, and through an encounter with a hoodlum his past is changed. He wakes up in bed, but not in his single lavish apartment. Instead he has a wife beside him, with two kids and the family dog jumping for joy at the prospect of opening Christmas presents. He did not leave for England and is now a family man. Initially he hates it!
Various lessons sprang to mind in watching this delightful film. First the value of family life. A reflection of Genesis 2 came strongly through, i.e. it is not good for man to be alone. While single he had power and prestige. Slowly he learns other values. A repeated phrase from his wife (who holds a successful, though poorly paid job) is 'I choose us'. Second, Nick Cage eventually has the opportunity to combine his old life and the new - to move from his mundane job to the high flyer he was. His wife is appalled at the disruption it will make, i.e. to the children's education etc., but having expressed her views, she is eventually willing to make the sacrifice of leaving the home she has known for all their married life, if that will bring fulfilment to her husband.
Significantly he chooses not to proceed. The biblical teaching on male headship and a wife's submission was movingly portrayed. Third, this films shows the reality of family life, the nappy-changing scene spares no details! No rose-tinted glasses about waking up in the marital bed in the morning. Here is a realistic window on family responsibility to balance much of the romanticised view portrayed on many films. Fourth, the one person not fooled by the change in her dad is the primary-age daughter Amy. This was a reminder of how astute children are at seeing through any falseness in adults. Nick Cage comes clean and promises that her 'real' dad will come back. You'll have to see how that works out...
Fifth, the basic question posed: what if you make a decision at an important juncture of life which you later regret? Surely every Christian has cause for comfort in the teaching of Romans 8.28 which counters the charge that a Christian may have missed the right path for their lives and that they now have second best. The Bible teaches God's sovereign providence - that God can and does make a straight line from a crooked stick. Even our mistakes will ultimately work for our good and his glory. We can rest in the assurance that whether we are a family man or single we are not outside God's plan for our lives.
I recommend this film .... but if you are a bit emotional do take some handkerchiefs!
