Last night I let the kids watch the movie, Overboard, with me.  Since it was on the Family Channel, I thought it would be appropriate.  I was uncomfortable about some of the language that was allowed to be in the movie and realized it was not a good movie for my children to watch.  Thankfully, they asked to go to bed about half-way through, so I finished watching it by myself.

I was surprised at what a beautiful allegory the movie turned out to be.  Although I had seen it many times before, the meaning did not become clear until this morning.

            Goldie Hawn plays a rich, wealthy woman wandering purposelessly around on a yacht in the sea.  Upon meeting a carpenter (representing Jesus), she falls overboard (representing baptism) and begins a new life.  A waste company picks her up and she is transported to a hospital.  Admitted to the psychiatric ward, her real husband finds her, but decided not to take her home.

            The carpenter picks her up instead, claiming she is his wife.  She has not repaid his debt and he wants payment in full.  Likewise, we can never pay Jesus for the debt He paid for us.  He takes her home to his four sons, who are grateful to have a mother.  During the time she spends in the house, she learns she has a purpose in life and becomes fulfilled.  When she is happiest, her husband decides to come pick her up.  She recovers her memory and goes back with him.  But she does not enjoy her former life and wants to return to the carpenter.  He longs for her, too, and he and his four sons go back to get her.

            We are called to be the Bride of a Carpenter, Jesus Christ.  The trials we are put through to become the beautiful wife He desires can be painful to our old flesh.  But through it, we find our purposes in life and fulfill our destinies.  Although Overboard is a trashy-talking movie, it was a beautiful picture of who we are called to be!