So, in case this didn’t make the headlines where you are….Disney just released a live-action version of the Lion King. Our family went to see it on opening night. It was everything! I have to mention the original Lion King was released the year our oldest son, Christopher, was born and he watched it incessantly growing up. In fact, for almost a whole year, he refused to reply to us if we addressed him as anything but Simba. Oh, our sweet Simba boy. He loved his mom and dad fiercely; he was rough and tumble and a little bit unsure of his roar. He affectionately called his daddy Mufasa with so much pride in his little voice. As for me, I somehow was the embodiment of Zazu to him. Ahem. Maybe because I tend to be a little bossy? It’s okay. We can agree to disagree. In my heart, I know I’m Sarabi. If you didn’t love the new Lion King, I will give you grace because you didn’t have a genuine Simba living in your house for a season.
Watching it again in a new, updated way brought back a whole flood of memories and emotions. I thought back to that sweet, innocent boy roaring through our house and wondered at all that has transpired in his life. Hindsight is 20/20, or so they say. But looking back I can see where he drifted away from his inner Simba to something less true; something less than king of the jungle, instead becoming tinged with anger and self-doubt. I see how over the course of time he forgot he was a lion.
During the movie, I felt God whispering to me a series of simple but powerful lessons that both reassured me and challenged me. Here are my lessons from the lion:
• Lions know they are lions. I don’t imagine a lion ever wandering through the African plains wondering if it might instead actually be a meerkat or a warthog. Mufasa never for a moment entertained the idea that he was not a lion. He was a lion and he knew it. Lions hold a certain place in the circle of life. They are at the top of the food chain and they won’t settle for eating slimy yet satisfying food, no matter how cute Disney makes it seem. They are courageous, carnivorous creatures that hunt exactly the way God created them to hunt. They don’t cower, they don’t hide and they don’t concede to being less than lions.
• Lions know their strengths and their weaknesses. They don’t go downwind. They conserve energy by hunting in packs in the cool of the day and they rest when it’s hot. Lions manage the resources available to them and use them to their advantage. Lions stay away from the shadowy places, not because they fear what might be there but because they know nothing befitting a lion dwells in the shadowy place.
• Lions know who their king is and follow him. Lions rest in the freedom to follow their leader because their king knows how to lead them. Their king knows where the good hunting grounds are and how to stay away from danger. The king always has the best interest of the pack in mind and is fiercely protective of his pride.
• A lion’s motto is never Hakuna Matata. Lions make things happen. Lions are problem solvers and solution seekers.
Last but not least, lions know the son of the king inherits the king’s legacy. This the place where I think our Simba went most off track. He forgot he was a son of the king and the king’s legacy was waiting for him. Our sweet, wide-eyed Simba allowed the world to tell him he wasn’t a lion when he clearly was. He was born a lion and he will always be a lion. The world tried to call him so many things besides a lion – underachiever, nerd, fidgety, unattractive, less than, a failure. The shadowy places seemed safer because nobody was looking for a lion there. For a season, he tried living as a meerkat but it’s pretty silly to be a lion living in a meerkat colony trying to fit in the meerkat tunnels and eat meerkat food.
I got a letter from our Simba last week. In it he talks about a great number of things, but the highlight of the letter is a sentence towards the end where he tells me he sees again the path God has for him and is growing everyday into the man of God he was created to be. Ah, Simba. You ARE a lion and He lives IN YOU.
Be blessed, friends!
-Jennifer
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