I appreciate the moving and typically moral messages that are behind these films, as well as the fact that you can cry during the entirety of the show, and then during all of the touching commercials in between.

One aspect of a recent movie has stayed with me, and that was the concept of restoration.

The main character picked out an antique box that she hoped to have restored. The outside of the box was faded due to age and handling, so it had lost its original sheen. It had old, yellowed music and newspaper clippings inside the lid that were tattered and torn. While some may have seen the box as aged and worthless, she saw the potential to make it beautiful once again.

Artists who restore old artifacts have to have both vision and investment in the pieces with which they work. They must ascertain a piece's value and character, and then devote their time and efforts to bringing it along to something as beautiful, or possibly more beautiful than before.

This takes a real investment of self going into each piece. The finished product was, in fact, quite beautiful after the artist restored it through steadfast precision and great attention to detail.

No matter what we've been through in the past months, years or even our lifetime, God allows us a personal restoration each year, called the Passover. Our personal trials, failures and stumbling blocks are evident to Him, just like the imperfections of the unrestored box are to the human eye. A broken latch, scratched interior and faded appearance speak to the box's imperfections in much the same way that we bring our spiritual and human inadequacies before God each Passover.

And just like the artist, God has a deep, personal investment of Himself in each of us as we seek renewal. Restoration is about working with the flaws a piece has, while accentuating the strength and character of the piece, and then incorporating them all into a pleasing finished product.

In 2 Corinthians:5:17-19[17]Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.[18]And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;[19]To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation., Paul writes: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them" (New International Version throughout).

What a blessing it is to have a Father who will not abandon us even when our glory may not yet be totally evident. He has given us the extraordinary gift of repentance and forgiveness through Christ's loving sacrifice, which we humbly partake of each Passover. We are all works in progress, and fortunately, God is not finished with us yet. "And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast" (1 Peter:5:10But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.).