Yesterday the kids and I watched the movie, The Croods.
I was really impressed by the spiritual aspect of it.
To me, the plot of this story was about a daughter, Eep, who is ready to grow up and leave the house (well, the cave), but because of the dangerous world they live in, her dad, Grug, doesn't think she is ready. His only focus is to keep Eep and the rest of his family safe, to protect them from the dangers of the world by tucking them safely away in their nice, warm, safe (but dark) cave.
Eep gets discouraged, and in typical teenage fashion asks, "What's the point of all this?"
As the movie continues, we see that their cave gets destroyed and they are forced to face an ever changing world.
Finally, Grug realizes that he can't protect his family from the world forever. When things get really scary, and the world starts falling apart, the suggestion is made to hurry and get back to a cave. That's when Grug has an epiphany:
"No more dark, no more caves, what's the point of all this? To follow the light."
WOW!!!
That was deep-
It made me think: Just like Grug, there's going to come a time when we're not going to be able to protect our kids as much as we'd like. I'm learning that however hard it may be, we need to let them grow up and begin to make their own decisions. We can't shield them forever. BUT we can teach them to Follow the Light. Our whole purpose here on this earth, "the point of all this" is to navigate through the dangers of this world by following the Light.
Teach me to walk in the light of his love;
Teach me to pray to my Father above;
Teach me to know of the things that are right;
Teach me, teach me to walk in the light.
(Lead Kindly Light by Simon Dewey)
The world we live in is risky, dangerous, scary, and unknown, but we "can live in the world and not be of the world. The Lord invites us to come. . . into the warmth of His light."
"It is a great blessing to have light in our lives- a light that helps us see things as they really are, light that illuminates our understanding, light we can follow with confidence and perfect trust."
"This requires integrity, strength of character, and faith - faith in the truths taught by the Lord, Jesus Christ, who said, 'I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life' (John 8:12)"