What Is the Title of Your Life Movie?

Imagine your life as a movie. What would be its title? Where would your name appear in the credits? Would you be listed in the volume of contributors who worked behind the scenes so others could walk the red carpet?

These questions prompt a deep self-reflection, inviting you to explore your role in the grand production of life.

How you answer those questions is very revealing about your identity.

A Background Actor

Also known as an extra, you don't feel you are playing a crucial role but only providing the backdrop for other characters. Sometimes you feel your contributions are subtle, but not necessary to the premise of your movie.

Just Supporting Cast

You are only an actor who provides emotional support to the lead characters. You give others depth and context. You may feel you provide comic relief or tension to others.

Movie Costar

More than a supporting role, do you consider yourself a costar to others, such as a spouse, children, or even God? You may not have much of a voice and less screen time than others. Yet you know how to create context and atmosphere in your life story.

Movie Star

Do you consider yourself the one in your movie who makes the decisions and responds to the obstacles and challenges in your film?

Chose a Role

So... the question remains, what role do you have? Does it differ from the role you think you should have? And what name that resonates in your character?  Instead of being the lead character in your own story, you think of yourself as a bit player, like a victim tossed overboard in the prop-wash of another person's history.

Your Inner Name

This is your true self that reflects your deepest identity and values. It's the name that you might not even be aware of, but it's there, shaping your thoughts and actions.

The inner name you call yourself is the identity you have constructed for yourself based on your life experiences, pressures, and traumas.  It's the name you called yourself in childhood, the one with a story behind it, and currently plays a significant role in shaping you as a person. 

For example, your emotional flashbacks may be the reason for some unpredictable or erratic moods and reactions to people. Perhaps your anger suddenly boils over, and you aren't sure why. Or, you have an obsessive need to be a people-pleaser to determine your self-worth. Reliving scenes of failure remind you how futile it is to consider goals that might brighten your future. 

 In the Matrix, Thomas, an average, boring computer programmer, learns his actual name is Neo. A stranger confronts him with the truth that reality is not what he'd been experiencing on a daily basis. The small existence swaddling him most of his life was actually the wool "pulled over your eyes to keep you from seeing the truth.”

What would you do if approached by the mysterious Morpheus with the haunting truth that you "were born into a prison you can’t smell or taste or touch?” Holding out the two pills, would you choose the blue pill and “wake up in your bed tomorrow and continue to believe what your current life dictates?" Or would you have the courage to take the red pill, discover who you were created to be, and "see how far (the adventure goes) down the rabbit hole?” 

Perhaps like Neo, you are asking, "I just wish I knew what I am supposed to do."

Would knowing what role you're destined to play be helpful? Could there be a reality beyond your chosen identity and that face reflecting back at you in the mirror? Do you find yourself asking this question:

• Who am I?

• What does God want of me?

• Why am I here?

What is your Identity? 

Not your given name but the name you call yourself. Your life story played a significant role in shaping your identity, with all its twists and turns. If you dare the journey, let's explore your story, and you will discover there's a much bigger role you have been cast to play.

Embracing self-reflection is a powerful tool for understanding and shaping your identity.

When I recently asked a friend the movie role question, he immediately replied, “I’m not the lead in my movie. Jesus is, and I’m in a supporting role.”

I gave that some thought. Later, I came back and said, "I see and understand your response, but Max, Daddy God has cast you as the LEAD in your own story." I then explained in movie terms . . .

Daddy God is the Executive Producer and Writer of your movie:

Executive Producer – Secures the resources and manages the budget. HE collaborates with directors and writers on creative decisions. Additionally, Daddy God coordinates between the various departments and ensures the project stays on schedule and meets deadlines. Finally, He represents the film presented to the world.

Jesus Christ is your movie Producer:

Producer – Without a producer, your film doesn’t get made. Jesus IS the hand in organizing, scheduling, budgeting, and hiring. His role is creative problem-solving and overseeing the progress of your films. Bottom line, Jesus is the one who brings the project to fruition and holds the rights to the resulting product.

The Spirit of God is the Director:

Director – God’s Spirit communicates the creative vision of the production. It assumes complete artistic control of a project. The Spirit has intimate knowledge of what the actors should do to create a personal and emotional connection to the material. He walks the performers through every scene, giving encouragement, insight, and correction to bring the story to life and communicate the writer's message.
 

And, As I See It,  YOU have been cast as the lead role. No pressure there.

(An excerpt from my upcoming book) 

BREAKTHROUGH: Finding Your God-Given Identity And Enjoying The Life.