I am constantly amazed at how God uses such simple things in our everyday lives to prove that He is just here for us, no matter what. Last night I decided to brave my not feeling so great to go out with friends to the Falls Theater downtown River Falls to see Dolphin Tale. Who knew that a thing as simple as a children's movie meant purely for entertainment could have so much packed into it?
First, the movie's main character is an 11 year old boy, Sawyer, who has no friends, does poorly in school, and who has lost his father. The incredible way the screenwriters use this background in the plot has so much meaning to it. This boy is positioned for failure, living a hopeless life everyday, until he finds a dolphin (Winter) on the beach and gets to be involved in its rehabilitation. The transformation that takes place in this boy as he opens up to the dolphin is almost unbelievable. All of the sudden he is pouring his whole life into helping this animal recover. It gave him something to have hope for, a purpose for waking up everyday. What's more astonishing is how much Sawyer learns about himself during this process.
This kind of reminds me of the way God puts certain things - events, people, etc. - inot our lives to help us to become all He wants us to be. In this case, Sawyer found purpose to his life by helping Winter, and then helped Winter to help other people, like his cousin Kyle. Through all of this, Sawyer never gave up on Winter or on himself - he always believed she would get better. How many of us can say that we aren't going to give up when hard times come? And how many that say that actually follow through? A lot of times people just want to lay down and let the waves of life crash over them while they slowly drown. These challenges are put into our lives to make us stronger and help us to become the people God meant for us to be.
Another thing about Winter is that she never gave up on Sawyer. She has a way of communicating with him and got him to understand her, the same way that God figures out ways to comunicate with us. Winter helped Sawyer to feel and to experience the love that he was never able to find with anyone or anything else. God loves us the same way - like no other man or creature ever could. Through learning to love Winter, Sawyer learned to love those around him, especially his family, despite all the pain he had felt from them over the years. A big theme of this movie was that "family is forever." Sawyer discovered this with his own family and Winter. God wants us to discover the "foreverness"of His family. He wants us to experience His love and to allow that love to teach us how we should love others.
Lastly, this movie depicted the utter beauty and creativity of God. Through the opening scenes of the dolphins swimming in the ocean, we see God's splendor and majesty. Throughout the movie we see a glimpse of God's sense of humor as a part of Winter's personality. We see how God has created us to have relationships with animals, with each other, and with God, and how God uses those relationships in our own personal growth.
Besides this being a wonderful movie anyway, this movie blessed me because it gave subtle depictions of God's majesty, creativity and sovereignty. From that perspective, I would say it's definitely a movie to see, and also an opportunity to take a look at your own passions and give them new life again, all while witnessing some of God's greatest creativity and glory in action!
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