Keep moving forward

We took the kids out to see the Disney Film Meet the Robinson's last night and were pleasantly surprised at the content, themes... and the ability to keep our 2 1/2 year old engaged for the entire film. No small feat... mind you.

Our first surprise was to find out that if you take a group of 3 or more to Carriage Place on Mondays... each movie is $.50 a person. So...

BURKLES + $2 = family fun at Carriage Place

In addition I thought there were some very redemptive themes in the movie that make for good healthy discussion with the kiddo's on they way home... in particular were the views on failure and family.

(1) Failure... is celebrated in the movie. The main character, Lewis, is a budding inventor... who has a museum of failed inventions. His trial-and-error approach to life is not so attractive to would-be parents of this lonely orphan... but it is theme of his life... that everything is an experiment. His life motto is keep moving forward and so he views his own failure as positive learning experiences that helps him to grow and improve.

I really like this theme. I think failure is an event and not a person. Good people fail... great people learn from their failures. I'm not really suggesting that life should be all trial-and-error. For we should avoid some failure by consulting wise counselors and even the failure of others. Moral failure should not be celebrated. Character failure should not be celebrated. But in attempting anything, especially new things, we must be open to failure. Then, having a keep-moving-forward attitude, frees you from the paralyzing fear of failure.

(2) Family... is valued in this movie. Lewis is an orphan. He longs for a family. A place to be accepted and loved and to find identity. He thinks that if he goes back in time and meets his mother his longing for belonging will be sated. But what he finds is the surprising power of moving forward. He gets a peek into the future where a bunch of quirky, eccentric individuals come together to form quite a functional family based on love and acceptance. It appears that nearly each member is added by adoption... the choosing to allow someone to become your family. It is really a form of grace in action... freely giving to someone a status they could not earn.

The value of family in this movie is very positive and the power of adoption cannot be overstated. Adoption is not choosing someone based upon what they can give you... rather on what you can give them. Identity. Love. Acceptance.

The gospel: Despite our own failures God's love has chosen to make amends for our offense. He initiates repairing our relationship by paying for our offense then adopts us as his dearly beloved children. We do not get to him by learning from our failures... but we find new identity in him when he declares us his children if we will only accept his offer.

In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. Ephesians 1:5-6