THE SCRIPT, THE ACTOR, AND THE SCRIPT SUPERVISOR

It's been a while, hasn't it?

I know. 😂

I have been busy enjoying my own life, love, and all the beautiful complexities that come with being an adult living in Nigeria. Apparently, growing up is just discovering new things to worry about while occasionally wondering how you got here in the first place.

But anyway, that's a story for another day.

Today, I have a thought. And as with most thoughts that find their way into my head, I am not entirely sure where this is going. So, let's figure it out together.

As a screenwriter, I usually have a mental picture of what I want a film to look like. Before the actors arrive on set, I have written the story, developed the characters, and crafted their dialogue. I know what I want each scene to communicate, how certain conversations should unfold, and how the different pieces of the story fit together.

But filmmaking is interesting.

You can write a character's dialogue down to the last punctuation mark, and an actor may interpret it differently. They may change a word, add a little expression, improvise a line, or deliver the dialogue in a way you hadn't imagined. Sometimes, they even do something so brilliant that you find yourself wondering why you didn't think of it yourself.

And that's the beauty of creativity.

The actor is not necessarily expected to become a recording device, mechanically reproducing every word on the page. They are expected to understand the character, the scene, and the overall intention of the story. Once they understand these things, they can bring something of themselves into the performance.

There is, however, a limit.

Somewhere on set, someone is responsible for ensuring that the story remains consistent. The script supervisor monitors the dialogue, continuity, and details of each scene, helping to ensure that the actors' creative interpretations do not distort the story the writer is trying to tell.

An actor can improvise. But improvisation is not an invitation to turn the film into an entirely different story.

And then it struck me: isn't this, in some ways, a picture of our walk with God?

Think about it.

What if we approached our lives as stories written by a God who sees the end from the beginning? A God who understands the purpose of the characters He has created, the significance of their relationships, and how the seemingly disconnected scenes of their lives fit into a much bigger picture.

He gives us the ability to make decisions. We can choose our words, pursue our interests, build relationships, explore opportunities, and make plans. We are not robots, mechanically responding to every instruction without thought or personal expression.

There is room for our personalities. Our creativity. Our preferences. Our humanity.

But perhaps we sometimes mistake the freedom to interpret our roles for the freedom to rewrite the entire story.

We take a little creative liberty here. We improvise there. We decide that the dialogue could be better, the timing is inconvenient, or the character we have been assigned doesn't quite match the person we would rather be.

And before we know it, we are no longer interpreting the script. We are writing an entirely different one.

The interesting thing about God is that He doesn't simply abandon us to our improvisations.

Sometimes, His correction comes through the quiet discomfort of conviction. Sometimes, through His Word. Sometimes, through the counsel of people who love us enough to tell us the truth. And sometimes, through the consequences of decisions we were so convinced we had every right to make.

We may call it an interruption. A closed door. An inconvenient delay. A persistent nudge to reconsider a decision we have already made up our minds about.

But what if, in some of those moments, God is simply bringing us back to the heart of the story?

Hebrews 12:6 tells us that the Lord disciplines those He loves. And I find something reassuring about that. His correction is not necessarily evidence that He has given up on us. Sometimes, it is evidence that He has not.

Of course, I am not suggesting that every disappointment is God correcting us or that every unexpected turn is a divine instruction to change direction. Life is more complex than that, and discernment matters.

But I do wonder how many times we have mistaken God's loving correction for an attempt to limit us.

How many times have we insisted on a particular outcome simply because it was the one we imagined, without considering that our imagination might not be large enough to accommodate the story God is telling?

And how many times have we been so determined to have our way that we have struggled to recognise the grace in being redirected?

I am learning that there is a difference between having the freedom to make choices and assuming that every choice we make will lead us where we ought to be.

There is a difference between bringing our individuality into God's purpose and insisting that His purpose must conform to our individuality.

And perhaps there is a difference between a God who wants to control every detail of our existence and a God who loves us too deeply to watch us wander endlessly away from the life He intends for us.

As I think about this, I keep returning to one question:

What if some of the things we call restrictions are actually safeguards against losing the plot?

I don't know about you, but I would rather have a loving Father who corrects my interpretation than one who watches silently as I turn a beautiful story into something it was never meant to be.

So, perhaps the prayer is not simply, "God, let my life go according to plan."

Perhaps it is also, "God, teach me to recognise Your direction. Help me understand the heart of the story. Give me the humility to accept correction and the wisdom to know when my creative liberties have taken me too far."

After all, the goal is not to become an actor who has no personality of their own.

It is to become one who understands the story well enough to play their part beautifully.

And if God is the Author, perhaps the safest place to be is not in a life where we never make a move without fear, but in one where we trust Him enough to let Him guide us when we begin to lose our way.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a feeling this adult female has some scriptwriting to do. Been struggling with building the story... but let's see.

I made this movie... CODE1O3

Check it out here

A new movie is coming soon. More details shortly.

Until next time. Fingers crossed that next time comes next week.

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