My wife and I anticipated this date night for a week.

We saw the text from the theater with the movie listings. A movie we were anticipating was finally playing at the local Melba Theater. We wait for movies to come to the Melba because they’re less expensive to watch, plus we’re supporting a small business and the local downtown scene at the same time.

We were immensely excited to finally see this movie. Oh, I forgot to mention that movies aren’t shown at the Melba until after they’ve had their time in the theaters.

This one was definitely worth the wait!

We watched A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood starring Tom Hanks as Mister Rogers. The film was inspired by a profile of Fred Rogers for Esquire Magazine called Can You Say…Hero? written by Tom Junod.

I’ll back up and share a little of my faith walk to set up why certain parts of this film were so important to me.

Be Kind

I’ve been working on writing my first book. It’s about the Sermon on the Mount. This task has me grappling with a revolutionizing conviction regarding my faith. How dare I write a book about Jesus’ commands that I’m barely putting into practice!

Couple that with my wife’s discovery of Happy Givers NPO merchandise over the holidays. Happy Givers NPO sells merchandise to help fight poverty in Puerto Rico and sponsor private adoptions in East Africa.

A couple of months ago, I was drawn to a hat. This hat was simple and basic. It wasn’t flashy and wouldn’t compete for anyone’s attention. The motivating message had me.

Be Kind.

Pretty simple, right?

Yet, those two words summarize the entire Sermon on the Mount for me while serving as a reminder of what Jesus said.

“The gentle are blessed, for they will inherit the earth.” -Matthew 5:5

Our existence could use more kindness. It starts with us being kind. Which brings me back to the movie.

All People Are Precious

My wife and I shared how the film blessed us while driving home from our date. One line had us both. In the film, Lloyd Vogel is an Esquire reporter charged with profiling Mister Rogers as a hero. Lloyd wasn’t thrilled. Not his gig.

Lloyd left Mister Rogers a message. Immediately came the returned call. During the brief conversation, Mister Rogers told Lloyd that he was the most important person in his life at the moment.

Gut punch anyone?

I talk to people every day on the phone. I’m certain I don’t leave them feeling that important. Pretty convicting.

Don’t we all need to feel important? Yet, rather than make each other feel important, we chase every wind of self-aggrandizement trying to make ourselves feel important. We rob each other of what we need the most. As Mister Rogers says in the film, “I think the best thing we can do is let people know that each one of them is precious.”

How many of us believe in letting the telemarketer on the phone know that they are precious? How about the rude server that screwed up our order at the restaurant, the inconsiderate jerk who cut in line at the store, or the mindless dolt that just rear-ended us in traffic?

It takes kindness, God-inspired kindness, to see everyone as precious.

I Don’t Think You Are Broken

In another scene, Lloyd is battling with his demons. He and Fred are eating lunch. Lloyd recounts a conversation in which Bill Isler told him that Mister Rogers “loves people like him”.  Isler serves as Mister Rogers’ manager/handler in the film. Lloyd asks Fred if he loves people like him because he’s broken.

Mister Rogers looks at him squarely, and after a pause says, “I don’t think you are broken.”

Isn’t the refrain of our common humanity that we are irreparably broken? Yet, Mister Rogers refused to see people as broken, but rather as precious.

God sees us this way as well. He came into our existence because He sees us for who He designed us to be, not for what we’ve been made into by our sin-altered existence.

What if we refuse to see people as broken? What if we instead see people as precious individuals desperately in need of Christ’s redemption? What if instead of seeing them as the sin-damaged person before us, we choose to see them for the precious person that was valuable enough to warrant Christ’s incarnation and death?

God loves people like us!

We are not broken, just on the wrong path in need of help getting on the right one.

Make Others More Important

This circles us back to kindness. Jesus promised the kind would inherit the earth. I don’t think, from observing how we live, that we believe Him.

In one of the film’s scenes, Mister Rogers is serenaded on the subway with the theme song of his show. In others, he is mobbed by people aiming just to meet him. It was moving to watch him take pictures of everyone he met. He didn’t want to forget a single person. He wrote their names in a journal. He prayed for them by name.

His kindness conquered the world, or at least a small part of it. His kindness exemplified putting others first.

Lloyd asks Fred, “All these people line up to tell you their problems. That would be an internal burden on you.” Fred  replied, “Sometimes we have to ask for help, and that’s OK.”

Lloyd pressed Mister Rogers to admit and acknowledge the burden of his fame. Mister Rogers always focused instead on Lloyd’s internal struggle.

In the end, that is what kindness does. It humbly puts the needs of others ahead of our own.

“…in humility considers others as more important than yourselves.” -Philippians 2:3

BE

My wife reminded me of that scene and pointed out to me that such is what I’ve been talking about since the new year.

Every year, I choose a word as a goal for my walk. This year the word is “be”.

I explained to my family on New Year’s Day that I want to embrace being in every moment, with every person I meet.

Every person we are talking to or that we encounter is as Mister Rogers said, the most important person on the planet.

Mister Rogers exemplified living in the moment.

A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood encouraged me to strive valiantly toward this wonderful goal. I may not conquer the world with kindness, but I will conquer a small piece.

I’ll make it a safe place for everyone who may think they’re broken when instead they’re just a precious person who hasn’t yet found the right path.

Movie Trailer