******SPOILER ALERT******* This post exposes the plot of the movie Happyfeet.

 I went to see a movie the other day with my son Patrick. The name of the movie is Happy Feet. It’s about the Emperor Penguins and about one penguin in particular named Mumble. You see in this movie each of the penguins has a song and it is through this song that the penguins attract their mate thus fulfilling their life’s purpose. Mumble is a bit different though as he doesn’t have a song and can’t sing at all. What gift he has been given is the ability to dance. His father believes that the reason his son is different is because he allowed the egg to get cold while it was waiting to hatch. You see Emperor penguins mate in the summer and then the fathers are left to cover the eggs and keep them warm through the sub zero winter while the mothers go back to sea to gather food for when the egg is hatched in the spring. Mumbles father allowed the egg to slip out from under him and get cold. The elders of the penguins (a committee who are portrayed as puritan religious types) believe Mumble is an omen and a warning from their god The Mighty Guinn and is ultimately the cause for the food shortage all the animals in the region are enduring. They instruct Mumble that Guinn is in control of everything and if Guinn wanted them to have fish they would but because their god is mad at them they don’t. Mumble refuses to accept their theory and goes in search of the real cause of the food shortage only to find it is caused by over fishing and big business.

  I felt in some way it was a crack at religion and putting our trust in God, but what I really started to wonder about was our responsibility to the environment as followers of Christ.  Should our stance be something like “ well this is the last days or end times why should we worry about the environment?” or should followers of Christ take a stand on environmental issues? Should we see the earth and all the animals as a treasure God has entrusted us with stewardship over? Perhaps we should look at it like “ well when Jesus comes back this whole place is gonna get a re-boot anyway, so why worry about it?” Does it really matter whether or not some penguins die out or the rain forests and everything in them are depleted? When I read the Bible I see that Jesus’ followers thought the end times were near almost two thousand years ago. What if He delays His coming another two thousand years? What would the Earth look like at the rate we are going? Just wondering what others are thinking. Thanks for your reply.

You are who you are for a reason.You’re part of an intricate plan.

You’re a precious and perfect unique design,called God’s special woman or man.

You look like you look for a reason.

Our God made no mistake.

He knit you together within the womb, you’re just what He wanted to make .

The parents you had were the ones He chose,and no matter how you feel,they were custom-designed with God’s plan in mind, and they bear the Master’s seal.

No, that trauma you faced was not easy.

And God wept that it hurt you so;

but it was allowed to shape your heart, so that into His like-ness you’d grow.

 You are who you are for a reason,

you’ve been formed by the Master’s rod.

 You are who you are, beloved , because there is a God.

 This poem by Russell Kelfer is a fun poem that always cheers me up when I feel down about myself. Knowing that God had us in mind before He laid the very foundations of the world changes the way I look at everything.  We may come from a home where we were dubbed a mistake. We may not have been  accepted by our parents or peers in our childhood or even now, but knowing that we are the special objects of God’s love changes everything.

Ephesians 1:3-6