Wednesday, December 15, 2010

I am a Mouse. You are a Dragon. Let's Go Meet Our Destiny.

Last night my son and I went to see “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.” It is a great movie and one the whole family will enjoy. As you may know, it is based on a book by the same title which was written by C. S. Lewis. Lewis was a Christian who thought deeply about real life issues. He wrote a series of books about the imaginary land of Narnia as an allegory of the Christian life.

The movie was full of great scenes and powerful teaching moments. It was fun to watch the interaction of two characters in particular. One was a mouse warrior named Reepicheep. Though Reepicheep was small in size, he was fully of courage and bravery. He was often the first into battle. He did not let his small size keep him from trying new things.

Reepicheep interacted a lot with a character named Eustace. Eustace was a spoiled teenage boy and the cousin of the two main characters. Eustace thought quite highly of himself, but his vanity mostly just got him in trouble. He avoided doing anything hard and was often filled with fear. Throughout the movie Reepicheep kept trying to bring out the best in Eustace, but it was hard since there was not much good to find!

At one point in the movie Eustace gave in to covetousness and gathered up a cursed golden treasure. The curse turned him into a dragon. Suddenly he was huge and could breathe fire. Sadly, he was still afraid and avoided doing hard things. His sudden great size and special abilities did not take away the fear that was inside him. When the rest of the crew was facing a terrible danger, Eustace tried to run away. Little Reepicheep the mouse jumped on the giant nose of Eustace the huge dragon and said “I’m a mouse. You are a dragon. Let’s go meet our destiny.” What Reepicheep was saying in that short sentence is that we all have a purpose to fulfill in life. Whether we are big or small, whether we think highly of ourselves or espouse humbleness, God has a plan for each one of us to fulfill. It we allow fear to control us and we always run from the hard stuff, we will miss out on God’s plan for our lives. In the movie, Eustace found his courage and helped save the crew from certain destruction.

Though we may not live in Narnia, our world is filled with difficulties. It is easy to run from them. We all need a Reepicheep in our lives to encourage us, inspire us, and challenge us to become what God meant for us to be. Sometimes we falsely think if we change ourselves on the outside, it will make us a better person. But a new hair style, or a new set of clothes, or a tattoo or a new piercing will not change us on the inside. Only God can change us on the inside.

It’s time to stop just trying to change the outside and begin to let God change us on the inside. It’s time to overcome fear. It’s time to go meet our destiny!

6 comments:

  1. This is good - I like little Reepicheep - love how Lewis uses animals to say such profound things.

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  2. Saw it Monday night. Great movie!!!!

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  3. I love the way you take stuff from real life and make spiritual applications from it.

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  4. Have a Blessed Christmas and a Happy New year.

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