Moana Inspires Me!

First let me disclose that I have to watch a lot of cartoons.  My two girls, both under 6, control the TV for the most part. I have watched several movies and shows a few dozen times.  Moana is one that I could watch or listen to in the background a few dozen more times. I am inspired by this movie!

I am inspired by this movie for several different reasons.  First item up, the little girl is “chosen” by THE OCEAN because she helped a baby sea turtle enter the water safely.  But what she did was help the defenseless. Because she helped for no reason other than to be kind, she was chosen to help save the world!  

From that day, Moana feels a tug she cannot explain.  Every path she takes leads her back to the place she longs to be but cannot go.  She wants to leave the island...

Moana eventually must follow her path even though others told her no.  She had the courage to go against the crowd and do what was right. She was brave enough to leave the safety of her home and try to save the world.  Because of her bravery, she was helped by the supernatural powers of the ocean. She left the island!

At one point during her struggles, she tells the Ocean to pick someone else because the negative voices around her were too much.  She could not see herself as the right one for the job, but at her weakest she found hope when she called out for it! Her new hope gave her the courage to finish her task, which was to save the world.

When I watch Moana I see a flawed and unvalued person change the world.  She does this with PEACE! She does this with understanding. She does this with LOVE,  NOT with hate. She knows she has supernatural powers, and she uses them to bravely face her obstacle and tell herself “this does not DEFINE YOU!”  

Moana speaks life to the monster.  This situation does not make you bad, it does not define you.  This is just a bad situation and I am here to help you. She showed loved and kindness to a hurting monster and it stopped in its tracks.

When I see that scene, I feel like Moana has had the Holy Spirit washed over her, and she is marching into battle covered in the armor or God. She is not afraid.  She should not fear. She is on her path and nothing is going to stop her.

I want to be Moana….I want to walk my path with my head held high knowing that I am covered in God's armor.  I have nothing to fear. I have, more than once, imagined myself walking the ocean floor to my monster and having no fear in doing so because I know God is there to help me just like he did David.    

We can all be our own Moana.  We may not literally be able to walk the ocean floor and defeat a lava monster with a little green rock and a song, but we can defeat our monsters!   We can be brave. We can know that God with us. We can pray and ask him to show us the way. We can pray and ask him to change our hearts. We can ask him to give us wisdom.  Anything we need to defeat our monster is available to us. We just have to have faith.

“If you have faith as small as mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move.”

Matthew 17: 20

Be brave because you prayed about it.  You are strong. You are kind. You are good.  You are one of God’s children and are loved. You can handle all things with God at your right hand.

Be Different Folks!