Who do you say that I am?

Hello! I decided to go with a Disney theme for a while, because it's something we can all relate to. So here it goes!

After a particularly stressful day a few weeks ago, I decided to watch The Lion King (TLK). I have always loved TLK. I can remember watching it over and over again as a child. Well...I still do this, but TLK was a significant part of my childhood. It's the movie I ran to for comfort when my dad died, it's the movie I watch every time I go home, and it's the movie that I can quote word for word. My nickname is Simba and I can relate to him on so many different levels, even if he is a cartoon. There's alot of comfort for me in TLK. So for me, it's my go-to movie when I have a bad day.
 While watching the movie, I was also reading Confessions by St. Augustine, because I have to read it for my philosophy class. I started thinking about Augustine's journey of self-discovery and how he found himself when he found God.

This made me think about a homily I heard the Sunday before that discussed the person Christ is calling us to be. This homily has been on my mind alot, because I feel like we all struggle with this at one point. The priest discuss how America puts a lot of emphasis on discovering who we are and what defines us. We all get caught up in it some point and I am especially guilty of this. Getting caught up in the self-discovery phase has been my biggest struggle this past semester. I turned towards secular discovery and forgot about the spiritual. I was thinking about where I am at now in my faith life, and where I want to be. I realized that I am nowhere near where I want to be. I got lost on the one way somehow.

 Well, God definitely has a sense of humor and loves to bring me back to Him through it.

I had just gotten to the point where Simba is frantically running after Rafiki in the forest, because Rafiki promised Simba that he could see his father again. Simba gets caught up in the vines as he goes, which hold him back. Suddenly he bursts out by a pond, where Rafiki beckons him forward.

Here's the dialogue from the movie: 
Rafiki: Look down there.

Simba: That's not my father. That's just my reflection.

Rafiki: No, look harder. 

Rafiki: You see? He lives in you.

Mufasa's ghost: Simba.
Simba: Father?

Mufasa's ghost: Simba, you have forgotten me.

Simba: No. How could I?
Mufasa's Ghost: You have forgotten who you are

and so have forgotten me. Look inside yourself, Simba.

Wow. Talk about hitting me over the head with a spiritual 2x4. God used my favorite movie, a children's movie to hit home a point that I've been fighting for a long time: my identity is in Jesus Christ. Just like Simba, I forgot who I was, and thus I forgot my Father. I had gotten so caught up in the secular world, that I forgot that Christ has already give me my identity. He created me in His image and likeness. There's nobody else like me in the world. Everything I need to know about myself is in Christ.

Why am I searching then if I already have an identity? I'm searching, as the whole world is searching, because it goes the other way too. When you forget your Father, you forget who you are. You lose yourself, when you lose your Creator.  Our world has cultivated this and egged it on in a way. The world tells you that YOU need to discover who you are and what defines you. Christ tells you that His love defines you and that the cross shows you who you are. You're God's child, His own beautiful creation. You are first and foremost a child of God and He claimed you at the cross. That is who you are.  When we realize this, we die to ourselves and become Christ's.

"Yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me; insofar as
 I now live in the flesh,I live by the faith in the Song of God
who has loved me and given himself up for me." 

 So it looks like I have alot in common with Simba, which strikes me as funny. Up here at K-State Simba is my nickname, because of my hair. But boy can I relate to him. Not only did I lose my biological father, but I lost my Heavenly one too. I forgot about him, and thus forgot who I was. I ran away from my spiritual family and I tried to live in a constant state of hakuna matata. I figured if I just kept telling myself no worries, then I would eventually believe it. Like Simba, I got caught up on my way to Him and took a wrong turn. But eventually, I broke through the vines, the restraints, and saw my reflection. I didn't see Him at first, but I just had to look a little harder. Then, I realized Christ lives in me. He is my identity.

I love how God uses the most simple things in my life to bring me back to Him.