At the Movies: Self-worth in Endless Challenges

In the midst of praise and worship is my favorite place to be. Whether it be the praise in the beginning, the worship in-between or my awestruck spirit when the music fades, I love it. Sometimes it’s while I am at church, in my car or lying in bed writing my heart out, but there is always this peace that overwhelms me when all that’s left is me and the Holy Spirit in complete silence. 

When I reach this level of peace, I begin to build up this motivation in my heart that wants to do more than just live my life one step at a time. I want to come to the alter and bring something that will, in my own eyes, be worthy Glory for God. I want to do something more than just hold the door open for the one behind me, smile at the one walking past me, or pray silently for another in need. 

Recently, at church, we went through a 4-week series called “At the Movies.” Each week, the pastoral group picked movies with solid moral foundations and compared them to life through the eyes of Christ. In an attempt to bring the stories to reality, like Jesus did when he spoke in parables, our pastor tried to highlight biblical messages through the lens of the characters in the movies. Initially, I was unsure how the sermons would play out successfully, but I quickly found myself getting more and more excited every weekend when the congregation would synchronize the opening of their canned beverages in anticipation of what correlated movie/sermon would be next. 

On a personal level, my friends and family got to the point that we were trying to guess what movie would be chosen next. I had a lot of fun rolling ideas back and forth with my husband, debating between films like Indiana Jones and Star Wars. We took the time to pick apart each movie we watched with a meaning and a purpose, while trying to see it through the eyes of Christ to become a modern day parable. 

While we went back and forth each week, there is one movie that stood out to me time and time again: Disney/Pixar’s “The Incredibles,” and I’d love to share with you why. 

This particular film, if you haven’t seen it, is based in a 1960’s themed alternate universe, where super heroes protect their local community while residing as normal people living their own lives behind the scenes. 

Robert Parr, better known as “Mr. Incredible,” is the main character in the film, that from the very beginning (when everything is going well) is portrayed as a freakishly strong, fit, confident, and intuitive man with a good heart to help his community and put an end to crime. As the story progresses, however, you start to see things fall apart in his life. Not necessarily his life altogether, but the things that he found his strength and confidence in. The place where he was often complimented and given an overabundance of honor. 

When jealousy and one sided front page newspaper opinions began to question the integrity behind his actions for his community, you first handedly see him begin to fall apart. When the community clung to the headlines and the others stayed quiet in fear of causing troubles in their own lives if they spoke out against it, he was eventually pushed into complete hiding. By this point, you see his blood run cold, his mind become distracted and his efforts be turned completely into getting back to where he was so he can be of good use again. 

In this moment in the film, I could see myself, and my own struggles, in Mr. Incredible. When we find our self-worth, even with good intentions for Christ, in the things of this world, it won’t be very hard to fall apart. Deep down inside, I may want to be an evangelist speaking fearlessly in the streets of the Middle East, but maybe I was designed to fearlessly talk someone’s ear off on a bus until they get off one exit early in hopes of freeing themselves from my inability to shut up.

I may not be able to lift a two ton car and throw it across the city, turn water into ice with my hands, stretch my limbs into crazy positions or run faster than a cheetah, but I can cook moist chicken, I can drive a manual transmission vehicle, I know how to manually refill a toilet tank when the pulley (my husband has since informed me the word I am looking for here is “flapper”) is broken, and I can find something to talk about no matter what the place or situation, and with any person. Hey-yo!

Obviously, Disney/Pixar will not be making a movie about me anytime soon. Honestly, with my array of menial talents, I might end up having to pay them to allow me to refill a toilet water tank or grill some moist chicken on a portable food cart in the background of a scene just to be in it. I laugh as I write this, but I’m sure (or at least I hope!!) I am not the only one who feels this way. 

When my talents do come in handy and I feel like I am of use, I feel unstoppable. When I am reminded verbally and mentally from others around me that I am doing well, I feel on top of the world. I feel like I can accomplish anything, my faith is strong, my heart is soft and my mind is clear. With my list of talents I have shared with you, you can imagine how often I feel on top of the world. If only my toilet bowl could shoot off some fireworks after I manually refill it or all the lights in my car put off a disco show after I drove from my house to the Dollar General without stalling.

But like Mr. Incredible, when my talents I am most proud of fail me or are taken from me, or the affirmations from friends and family don’t come,I find myself in a test that I often fail as I try hard to dig into my own strength instead of the Lord’s.  

Imagine if Mr. Incredible looked the media straight in the eye when his integrity was questioned and quoted Hebrews 13:6(“So I say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?”),then picked his head up with dignity and left the room with confidence knowing God had him in the palm of his hand. We wouldn’t have had a movie, but it would have been pretty phenomenal. Definitely a mic drop moment! 

He could have then walked off, even if still forced into hiding, and began a new chapter in his life planned by God to bring God honor. Having just married Elastigirl when everything appeared to be falling apart, maybe it was his moment to build his inner strength while maintaining the outward strength God had previously worked with him on. Instead, he focused on what he had perfected and dwelled in sorrow that he wasn’t able to be used in such a way that he could be perfect each time. 

Like Mr. Incredible, I too fall into that trap more often than I care to admit. As things get worse, I feel like I can’t accomplish anything, my faith starts being tested, my heart begins to harden and my mind becomes puzzled. I look in the mirror and I ask myself, “Who am I looking at?” I don’t recognize the woman reflecting back at me. I know better than to behave this way, because I know the truth. Yet, every time crap hits the fan, there I go sitting in the corner of the room to ensure every piece has an option to make direct contact with my body so I can sulk and play victim before God. 

I sit there wanting God to come wipe me clean, pick me up, restore my heart, encourage my life and put me back on the path he wrote specifically for me. I’m his child, isn’t that what parents do? They’re always there to pick us up when we fall, wipe us clean, restore our hearts, encourage our lives and help us get back on track. I turn to praise and worship, I run into the closet to pray and repent, and I seek out his word like I would seek water in the desert, yet there I am still sitting in the same corner, covered with crap (the metaphorical kind, just to be clear) and running on fumes. 

It took Mr. Incredible, bound by chains and believing he lost his entire family to realize that he wasn’t Mr. Incredible by his own means. He was left hopeless when everything that truly mattered was wiped away to the point that even his great talents could’t bring them back. When I myself focus too much on what I am doing, as opposed to the One I am doing it for, the enemy doesn’t even need to do much work. I essentially put myself in the chains of hopeless destruction in my giant pile of crap all by myself.

“Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father?” Hebrews 12:7

I often remind everyone around me that love is a verb. We love with our actions, so when we’re out and about, angry, sad or happy, we need to remember to act it out in love. To endure, much like love, is itself an action. We endure by suffering with something difficult or painful patiently. In Hebrews 12:7, we’re called to endure hardship as discipline, because God is treating us as his children.

With that said, the first couple of times I found myself sulking in the corner, God, like the wonderful Father He is, picked me up and cleaned me up. During the process, with no effort on my behalf, He showed me how I can avoid ending up in that corner altogether by allowing Him to guide my life. He even showed me that, even if I fail to avoid it, He has given me every resource to get out on my own though His loving grace, in prayer, and with His word. He was even gracious enough to be by my side through the whole process every time, with the presence of the Holy Spirit.

[Spoiler Alert] At the end of “The Incredibles”, it turns out Robert Parr’s family survives the crash he believed took their lives because of recent decisions he made in his life. He immediately comes out of his presence of defeat and is given a renewed sense of hope. He even smiles at the sounds of his wife’s bickering because of his actions and the situation they were in because “he was just happy they were alive”. He even manages to let his family in and use his newly discovered inner strength in conjunction with his external strength, and allowed his family and friends in to help him save Metroville from Buddy Pine (Syndrome). 

Of course, things don’t always work out as perfectly in the real world as they do in movies, but one thing is for sure. The reason for endurance through hardships are all the same. The world might have seen Mr. Incredible, but God knew Robert Parr, because He was the one who created him. Even though it was just a fictional story, we can use his life as an example that God will take your greatest weaknesses and your greatest strengths, and use them to recalibrate your life to draw you closer to him while being light to the world. 

The corner exists and it does for all of us. The corner that I sulk in amidst my own pity may not look identical to yours, but we all suffer from hardship in our lives. We never have to stay there, because God created a way out in every challenging situation we find ourselves in. We endure them with patience using His loving grace, in prayer, with his word and paired together with the presence of His Holy Spirit. 

There is nothing that this world can do to destroy a spirit that is reborn through the blood of the lamb. Every gift of God we are blessed with is precious because He is the one who made it. Even if the world doesn’t see it as precious, we can rest assured that God does. 

In Zephaniah 3:17 we are reminded “The Lord God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.” 

Can you imagine, not only will He take great delight in us, we will be serenaded by our Heavenly Father. The same God who created the voices of Freddie Mercury, Whitney Houston, Frank Sinatra, and Luciano Pavarotti will be singing over you because of His great love for us. It is true that the things of this world that dwell in sin will all burn away, but the things directed at God will forever reign. 

It’s so crucial to see ourselves through the eyes of God and we do so by filling our hearts, eyes, minds and spirits with the words of God himself. The God who thought our personalities into existence, knitted us in our mothers womb, sent His only Son on behalf of our sin and then the Holy Spirit so we never have to endure in patience the hardships of this world alone. 

So love yourself, not because you’re “Incredible”, but because the God who created you is. Enjoy the talents, both great and menial in the eyes of the world, because they are precious to your creator. Use them, fervently with dignity to bring God honor and to draw others closer to the light. Awkward situations, being spoken down on, dirty looks, being left out, finishing last, never getting the opportunity to start, missing the exit, and starting last does not equate to failure.

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:1-2

Jesus took care of it all, there is no need for us to be held back by the way the world sees us. So, as I personally grow stronger each day in the challenges God has allowed me to endure, I will look forward to never stepping foot in that corner again and embrace every awkward situation because of my quirky and sometimes overbearing personality. I say this because it is a delight for my Father, because my perseverance will remain in my race to draw nearer to Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior.