Documentary
88 min / 2019
Rating: 10/10
“I feel like I’m a little girl at a party whose Dad is asking her to leave early, and I’m throwing a fit. I’m not afraid of dying. I just don’t want to go.” – Kara Tippetts
Kara Tippetts started Mundane Faithfulness intending it to be a “mommy blog” that would encourage moms to just love their littles and be there every day for them. But it became something very different when the young mother of four and pastor’s wife was diagnosed with breast cancer.
The blog went viral as Kara, bluntly and beautifully, explained her treatments, shared her doubts, and showed how their family was trying to treasure every moment. In posts that were read by tens of thousands, she explained:
“I want to be able to share this story that suffering isn’t a mistake, and it isn’t the absence of God’s goodness…because He’s present in pain.”
In Psalm 90 the psalmist pleads with the Lord, “teach us to number our days” (Ps. 90:12) and with her diagnosis, Kara was confronted with a truth the rest of us most often evade: that our days are numbered. She showed us what we should all do: find joy in the moments where they can be found.
“Cancer was this gift that exposed to us what is important and what is valuable. Parenting with kindness. Loving your husband. Living well.”
Then, over the course of the next two years as it became increasingly clear that a cure wasn’t likely, Kara showed the world what it looks like to die to God’s glory.
I gave this the highest rating I could because everyone should see it, and would be greatly benefited by it. Not only will Kara’s story remind us to number our days, she teaches us to really think through what our purpose is.
The only caution I would offer is that I can’t quite imagine what sort of viewing party would work best, as there are just so many scenes here that will have everyone bawling. It’s the mix of brokenness, beauty, truth, and God’s goodness that’ll ensure no one in the room has a dry eye, so if you don’t like bawling in public, you won’t want to watch this with friends. But you do want to watch it with friends because it will prompt some fantastic discussions about what really matters. So maybe the best approach is to gather a group, turn the lights down low, distribute Kleenex boxes generously, and know that your tear-stained face won’t stand out from anyone else’s in the group.
“The Long Goodbye” can be purchased on DVD or streamed online for a few bucks at innumerable places around the Internet. Kara has also written a The Hardest Peace which I review here. After you’ve seen the film, you may want to check out this speech by Nate Wilson that makes the same points Kara does, but from a very different direction.
Jon Dykstra also blogs on films at ReelConservative.com.
