The King's Speech

After watching the movie "The King's Speech" I had an incredible fresh view of how our relationship with God  works - or at least how I think my relationship with God works. Some people think of God as a parent figure comforting them at every turn and putting band aids on life wounds to make everything instantly better. They treat God as if He exists to keep us pain free or someone we go to for a quick fix. Others take the "Jesus is my homeboy" approach making Jesus out to be a buddy who has got their back in all situations and decisions even if they make stupid mistakes. I suppose there are some theological truths to these views, but my relationship with God never quite fit into these views. I suppose just as there are no two people who have the exact same relationship with others, God has a different relationship with each of us.
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Lionel Louge ends up being the King of England's speech therapist; however, the King has little faith that Lionel can actually help him and doesn't understand Lionel's techniques. Lionel irritates the King intentionally and asks deep, personal questions about the King's childhood. King George is infuriated by this invasion of privacy and insists the therapist just fix him by doing speech drills. Lionel responds by telling  King George in order to fix him he must get to the root of his speech problems and dig into emotional and childhood baggage. The King gets angry at Lionel and walks away from his therapy through out the movie when he doesn't understand or agree with Lionel's techniques. The King is also incredibly insecure and doesn't believe he can be healed. Towards the end of the movie The King overcomes his speech problem through much training and perseverance (Although not 100% fixed). When he is delivering a very important speech Lionel tells the King to focus on him and pretend as if he is simply speaking to him. The King gets through this speech not with complete perfection but for the first time does a decent job in public speaking during a crucial time for England.

Connection... For me God seems to communicate more in this coaching style. God's ways and techniques often irritate me, and I often don't understand Him. I get easily frustrated with God and even though I don't ever walk away from my faith, I often walk away from God for a time. I tend to give up on unanswered prayer, or I ignore God when He asks me to do something because I have little faith in myself. Often times I simply just don't feel like putting in the work it takes to have a good relationship with Him, and I don't want to try. The King does this through out the movie with Lionel. God continues to poke and prod with things in my life that annoy the junk out of me. There are so many times I just get annoyed and turn my back. That's usually when a light bulb goes off in my head. I realize God frustrates me to open my eyes to His plan and to teach me an important lesson. God doesn't just want to fix us; He wants to redeem us and show us His great power by helping us accomplish what we think to be impossible.

Lionel doesn't cater to all of the King's needs. He tells the King he can only help him if the King truly desires and believes he can be helped. I believe this is the way God works in my life allowing me to have free will so that I choose to seek his help. The King has to work very hard at fixing his speech problem, and in the end he is never completely fixed. It's a constant battle, but he has come a long way with Lionel at his side. Through all the hardship, they develop a deep friendship. I think God walks along side me, and instead of fixing every problem, he allows me to struggle through it knowing I will learn perseverance. I believe in a God who brings us through a journey, a process, and leads us down a path where we learn to help ourselves while at the same time we must maintain complete trust in Him. This is beautifully played out in this movie. I encourage everyone to see it.