February 20, 2013

• The Ghost Whisperer

  Last night, Brian and I started season FOUR of the television series, ‘Ghost Whisperer’.  We’ve actually been TV-free for 16 years, but every once in a blue moon, we do a TV-series, just the two of us, together, after the kids go to bed.  Cuddle time.  We did ‘Alias’ in 2009… and come January of this year, I got the urge to try another series.  Why ‘Ghost Whisperer’?  I have no idea.  I’d never seen Jennifer Love Hewitt in anything before.  I had no idea what it was about (although the title gives a hint, no?), and while my friends said I might enjoy it, they cautioned me… because of my faith thing.  Ironically, this show has strengthened my ‘faith thing’ in ways that… well, I want to write about.

  Now in case you don’t know the premise of the show, it’s about a sweet, loving, somewhat quirky young woman who has – all her life – been able to see and communicate with ghosts.  When they come to her, they’re mostly confused about what happened, have unfinished business that they need her to help them complete, and usually start out looking REALLY nasty, but as they remember (and get closer to finding peace) they look more and more like their human self.  Their ‘residual self-image’, as Morpheus would say.  Always gotta add my Matrix references, LoL!!  Anyhow, it took me a few episodes to acclimate to that transformation from gunky to human, cuz… ew.  But Melinda (the Ghost Whisperer) is usually able to take it in stride.  Some of my friends have described it as ‘Dr. Quinn meets the old Twilight Zone’.  I don’t know if that’s true, as I’ve never seen Dr. Quinn or the Twilight Zone.  TV-free.  But I assume it to mean that it’s ‘sappy sweet meets kinda spooky’.

  At this point, it would behoove me to explain that I don’t do scary.  Not at all.  In fact, I spent most of my life absolutely terrified of things I couldn’t see.  It started way back before I can remember and went all the way until I moved out of my mother’s house.  I was terrified.  I couldn’t be alone in a room.  I hated mirrors and was always hearing noises.  ((I was also afraid of bathrooms, but that’s a different story.))  I couldn’t MOVE once I got in bed, and I wouldn’t go in closets or in the basement or by windows.  And weird things would happen to me – like a helium balloon in my sister’s room made it’s way across the entire room, OUT to the hallway, down the hall past two other rooms, and came to visit me in the living room when I was home alone.  Things (that were INSIDE of other things) would ‘fall out’ on the floor.  I had serious issues with this, fyi.  I lived terrified.  Which… bothered me, because my brother and sister had no problems, whatsoever.  Yet another sign that Anna was/is abnormal.  And then – ironically – I moved out into an apartment in a basement (!!)  and I was completely fine.  It took years to realize that it was an oppressive spirit attached to my mother/her stuff, and I wasn’t okay as long as I was there, because I being harassed by it.

  No, I don’t believe in ghosts, but I do believe in spirits.  As in, demons and angels.  I believe that they are all around us, and can affect us.  So do I buy the premise of ‘Ghost Whisperer’?  No.  It’s like watching a Tinkerbell movie or a superhero flick.  There’s no suchuva thing… it’s just for fun.  But I stay away from ouija boards (demons manipulate them), fortune tellers (their spirit guides are demons) and anything satanic – for obvious reasons.   Warriors of the Light don’t hang out in the enemy’s camp.  Besides, greater is He that is in me, so why would I waste my time with the losing team?  But I’ll tell you… because of my trouble in youth with conterminous oppression, I was SERIOUSLY concerned about watching this series.  I didn’t want anything that could’ve been attached to it coming into my life.  And demons can use the concept of ‘ghost’ to do some pretty wicked things to people – I’m convinced of that.  So perspective is everything.

  And I told Brian, going into it, that if it wigged me out, we were done.  He was good with that, and… well, frankly he was intrigued that I was even considering this subject matter.  You’d have to live with me to understand.  I’m… not normal about anything.  Heck, what am I saying, you read my BLOG, you HAVE to know that I’m not normal by now.  Which… we’ll get to in a moment.

  Now you’re probably scratching your head and asking me HOW in the WORLD a television series about ghosts and seeing the dead could strengthen my faith.  Yes, and well you should ask.  It’s because of Melinda’s story.  She was abandoned by her father as a child, and then again after she reconnected with him as an adult.  The same thing happened to me – both as a child and an adult.  Her mother has never liked her, doesn’t connect with her, and is often downright uncaring toward her.  Wow, does THAT sound familiar.  She had few friends in school, mostly she just didn’t fit in because she wasn’t like the other kids.  I’ve been there and done that, too.  She wants truth from people.  Truth is at the heart of everything with her.  Sound a little like me?  She believes in that which cannot be seen, and works for the winning team where the afterlife is concerned.  Yup… yup.

    And Jim.  Melinda has this husband who knows about her troubled childhood, the various kinds of rejections she’s experienced, and the unusual things she sees and is led to, everyday.  He loves her, anyhow, is there for her no matter what, and is her rock.  He believes her, helps her work thru things, and protects her from people who think she’s crazy or whatever.  It’s kind of amazing, because in television, most relationships are fickle and shallow, there are affairs and wandering thoughts… there’s a lot of crap.  But the relationship in this series is rare and beautiful.  And honestly?  It has really put into perspective for me what I am blessed with.  Jim is a fictional character – the guy who plays him just an actor reading a script.  But my Brian?  He’s the REAL thing.  I have the real Jim in my life, and I see Brian when I watch the episodes.  It’s really showed us – as a couple – what we have, and what we have to give thanks for.  ((And my Brian is handsomer, too.  But I digress.))

  As for the ‘faith thing’… I have a gift.  The church is really stupid about it… they give spiritual gift tests, and … ALL of those gifts are acceptable, except for mine.  Have you noticed this?  If you’re a servant, a teacher, a giver, an exhorter?  Praize Gawd!  If you can teach a class or Bible study or evangelize to Haitians for a week?  Glory on High!  If you’re headed to seminar to be a preacher, the congregants sing hallelujah.  Even tongues – as long as you do it in the quiet of your own home, sure.  Whatevs.  We don’t know what you’re saying, anyhow… but we’ll buy that it glorifies the Lord.  

  But if you even HINT that you’ve got the gift of prophecy?  Good Lord, look out – they’ll ostracize, hate on you, assign pastors to monitor you (BTDT)… it’s DANGEROUS.  It’s UNACCEPTABLE.  That doesn’t exist anymore, they say.  It’s wrong, it’s controversial.  Who do you think you are!  How dare you even SAY the word!  ‘Evangelist’ is a word that makes them jump up and clap.  ‘Prophet’ is a word that makes them reach for something sharp, with wariness in their eyes.  And WHY?!  

  But it’s true. I’ve watched preachers RUN away from me.  They look in my eyes and say, “Has anyone told you you have the gift of prophecy?” and I just smile… but when it sinks in, they freak out.  Try to get away.  Because they’re afraid of what it means.  What I might say to them.  ((And with good reason.  I rarely get good messages for pastors.  Okay, I’ve NEVER gotten anything but a rebuke to give to pastors.  Messiah said the church was an open grave, and I’ll add that the pastors therein are rotting corpses.  Oh, yes, I have more in common with Melinda than I should talk about.))

  Like Melinda learned not to use the word ‘ghost’, I have learned LONG ago that you don’t talk about your spiritual gift when it’s what I’ve got.  I don’t use that word.  It’s taboo.  Because it’s scary.  People can’t handle it.  They don’t understand that it’s got a valid place, that it’s god-given, that it’s a GOOD thing to have, per scripture.  They can’t accept that… it’s too much.  Unless you can help them, specifically, they don’t want anything to do with it.  It’s a touchy topic.  Another thing I can relate to in the ‘Ghost Whisperer’.

  So what do you do?  When your gift is green lights, red flags, and messages, when you see numbers and signs and are led to things… when a spirit comes and stands at the foot of your bed and takes your unborn baby’s spirit… what do you do?  Freak.  Loser.  Shut up.  Pompous, to even THINK such a thing.  It’s no wonder you don’t hear about people having that gift.  Most people who even have hints of it shove it away and claim something benign and acceptable like ‘servant’, instead.  This is why I miss Herb.  He’s the ONLY other one I’ve ever met.  The only other one!  Do you know how sad that is?  Everything about spirituality these days is a MESS.  I have no one to talk to who knows what I feel/see.

  But as for what ‘faith things’ I’ve taken away from the series, it includes being true to yourself.  Embracing what you’ve been given.  Seeking Truth and Light.  Being available, no matter how scary the news, how eerie the coincidences.  Putting the pieces together to see what needs to be seen.  Oh, yes, I can definitely relate.

  We’re starting season four.  I haven’t been afraid, haven’t had any oppression from it.  In fact, instead, I find myself watching Melinda’s struggles and seeing a kindred spirit (okay, FAKE – it’s TV, for pity’s sake – but kindred, nonetheless… because that’s about as close as I’m going to get, apparently).  But at this point, I feel as if I was led to the series for encouragement purposes.  That there was a deeper meaning to it, meant for me.  Her story is parallel to mine in SO many ways.  And yes, that’s coming from a person with a different perspective from… well, pretty much everyone else I’ve ever met, but… that’s why I love the show.

  • 12:00 pm
  • 3 Comments