I don’t rent many movies these days, but last week our local movie rental store gave me a free rental. My vote was for the film about the true story of the blind man who climbed to the Summit of Mt. Everest. But since the last movie I picked out was about football, it was only fair that we went with a romantic comedy…”The Ghosts of Girlfriend’s Past.”
The film (with a plot that cleverly follows Charles Dickens’ famous classic “The Christmas Carol”) is about a decadent, self-centered, womanizing bachelor whose has a “Bah, humbug” attitude when it comes to love and marriage. The night before his younger brother’s wedding, he is visited by ghosts representing his past, present, and future girlfriends. By time the three visitors are finished with him, he has a radical change of heart and opens himself up to love again.
Personally, I don’t recommend the movie—except for the last 10 minutes. In particular, the best man’s speech by the main character at the wedding reception redeemed the movie for me. Here’s what he said,
“Someone once told me that the power in all relationships lies with whoever cares less. And he was right. But power isn’t happiness. And I think that maybe happiness comes from caring more about people—rather than less.”
The power he’s referring to is the upper hand of self-protection. And yes…it may keep a broken heart from getting crushed again, but there is no joy in it. It only ends up incarcerating the soul in a prison of fear, emptiness, and selfishness.
Only the willingness to give and receive love is what makes us truly happy and free to be followers of Jesus (John 15:13).
