A Hidden Life: Part 1

I want to talk about something beautiful today.

Flying to Madison, WI where I’ll be speaking, I watched the Terrence Malick film, A Hidden Life. I will have more to say about this incredible movie in future podcasts, but today I want to focus on one important beautiful thing it exposes.

A Hidden Life depicts the life of Austria’s Franz Jagerstatter, a conscientious objector who was put to death at the age of 36 by the Nazis, and later declared a martyr by the Catholic Church.

This depiction of his life shows that true beauty is found in those moments few people other than ourselves and those close to us see. A dinner table of smiles, hands working together in the dirt, early morning in an empty church, children laughing, a thrilling motorcycle ride, lovers embracing, the smell of spring, and friends and family gathering.

It is real. It is deep. Yet, if you don’t slow down and focus, maybe you miss them. Maybe you even stop having them. A Hidden Life makes you slow down and watch what matters to a man who has lived a good life. As Franz is broken down in prison all he is left with is his faith and his memory of the moments that mattered. They fill his head as he approaches the executioner’s block. When our hour approaches, what will fill our head?

If you haven’t yet, spend an evening with those you love watching A Hidden Life. Nothing I’ve ever seen on film better wakens one to what really matters in life.