B Movie Lessons

Gil's at the Women's Encounter Retreat tonight.  That means dad night for the kids.  We watched Jerry Seinfeld's Bee Movie.  Funny movie.  During tuck in I asked Tyce and Jaley (separately) what they would write as a "moral" to the movie.  (This is something they do in school on occasion.) 

Tyce said, "don't be greedy"--pretty good.  Jaley's was something along the lines of, "be careful what you fight for"--also good.  We talked about how the bees in the movie (spoiler alert!) led by Jerry's character Barry, fought to keep all the honey they made for themselves.  But once they won their case and got all their honey back they stopped working (pollinating) and the flowers and plants began wilting and dying. 

We talked about how living for ourselves is tremendously destructive and has a ripple effect of destruction.  And yet--everyone still does it.  Its in our nature.  Its hard wired.  Selfishness is the default position of humanity.

Jesus says essentially, "work hard at giving your life away."  That's what Christians do.  Give themselves away, daily.  They don't do it alone--can't--they do it through Jesus' power.  Its hard work because it goes against our nature.  But what comes easy is "working hard to keep my life."  Minus the Jesus part, the movie sends this message that working to give yourself away has greater reward than working to keep everything for you.

I believe movies can be valuable teachers and bridges to spiritual truth.  I encourage you to teach your children and teach yourself to be an active movie watcher who looks for spiritual takeaways from "movie night" in your home.