Do you like Documentaries?

Do you like Documentaries?

I do.

I really do. I'm not sure what it is about them, but I really like learning about people and what influences them and how they influence others and how that influences the world. What is life about if not relationships?

Last night I watched a documentary on Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Have you ever heard of him? I hadn't; I just sort of stumbled upon the documentary on the Netflix site and added it to our Queue because I love documentaries, and from it's description it sounded interesting, and I love documentaries.

This was the description: "This poignant documentary traces the life of German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was one of the first to speak up against Adolph Hitler throughout Hitler's rise to power. Bonhoeffer organized the Confessing Church, the only structured revolt against Hitler, and turned to his roots as a devout Christian for the strength to take a political stand for Jews everywhere."

I love documentaries in general, but I especially love documentaries that are about normal people who fight injustice, who stand up for what they believe in, who strive to make the world a better place - even when the fight seems futile. I like them because they make me reflect on my own beliefs and they inspire me to want to do more and be better. As trite as it sounds, it's true.

The documentary on Bonhoeffer was no exception. I was really impressed with a lot of the things that he endeavored to accomplish, given the odds and the dangers. The closing quote of the movie has stuck with me all day, so I wanted to share it.

It was taken from a letter that he wrote to a close friend in July 1944:

“I discovered later, and I'm still discovering right up to this moment, that it is only by living completely in this world that one learns to have faith. By this worldliness I mean living unreservedly in life's duties, problems, successes and failures. In so doing we throw ourselves completely into the arms of God, taking seriously, not our own sufferings, but those of God in the world. That, I think, is faith.”

This quote really resonated within me and made an impression. It's such an interesting definition of faith - that to have faith is to live life unreservedly, accepting all of it: the good and the bad, the joys and the sorrows - that if we live completely, accepting all that comes our way, we will in fact be entrusting our whole experience to God. I find that to be true and beautiful.