Last night I watched Noah, the 2014 film by Darren Aronofsky. Let’s just say that if you want a film that is grounded in fact this is probably not the one for you! Whilst the Mosaic account is fairly sparse in its details, the film’s deviations from the Biblical narrative of Noah’s life are not insignificant.
In case you’re not familiar with the story, let me summarise it for you. Following the creation of a perfect world, mankind’s bad choices led to such egregious sin that God decides to cleanse the world and start again. God instructs Noah to build an ark that will be used to save him, his family and pairs of all the animals on the earth from an apocalyptic flood.
At the end of the film, after the flood has subsided, we see Noah blessing his grandchildren. Love, hope and mercy are the traits that have been brought forward into the new world. These are the characteristics that Noah believes the future will be built on.
Whilst our passing one year into the next is not as dramatic as Noah’s exit from the ark, there are lessons we can learn from the story. As the clock ticked over from December 31st to 1st January, the new year provides us with a new start. It gives us a moment to review the past and re-evaluate our future.
Aronofsky’s film hints at an important truth. There is something from which we can never escape. Whatever else we leave behind, there is one thing we take forward into the future; ourselves.
Life is not made of our circumstances, but rather our choices. We decide how we will react and respond in every situation.[1] Our decisions shape our present, and our future.
Whatever resolutions you have may have made as you crossed the threshold into the new year, determine that love and mercy will be hallmarks of your life. Mercy does not punish people as they deserve. Love appreciates the best in others draws more of it out of them.
Let this year be the year that you excel in love.
