A Very Veggie Lesson

On Monday Big Bear and I got to go and have a special day alone together. I was supposed to do the same on Tuesday with Me Too but Campo was sick and so we postponed it. After much careful consideration of what to do with Big Bear (there was a list a mile long to choose from!), I decided to take her to her first movie in a movie theater! We headed off to see Veggie Tales: Pirates Who Don't Do Anything.

Now, Big Bear does not have the best history with movies. The first movie I ever showed her at home was Finding Nemo. Having not seen it in a few years, I didn't realize that one of the very first scenes is a huge scary shark eating Nemo's mom and family. Not a great first movie experience. She immediately wanted it off and has never wanted anything to do with Nemo again. The mere sight of a clown fish can cause her to start trembling. Okay...not that bad but she really does still remember her Nemo experience and tells me often that she never wants to watch that movie again. Furthermore, she is still leery of anything called a movie. Movies have somewhat redeemed themselves upon the viewing of a beloved Little Bear movie, Cinderella and now her favorite, Land Before Time movies. Still, I was careful not to tell her we were going to a movie for fear of her associating her negative movie experience with this new one we were about to have. She was a little nervous at first. Popcorn helped a lot! Once the lights went down and the previews started, she tensed. I asked her several times if she wanted to sit in my lap but she was trying to brave it out. Finally, about halfway through the previews, she leaned over and whispered that she would like to go outside. So at that point I reached over and pulled her onto my lap. She was still tense but stayed and once the familiar Veggie Tales came on and she got into the story line she was fine and ended up having a great experience. Afterwards we had pizza and rode the carousel that they have at this particular mall! It was a great day!

The movie was pretty good...Veggie Tales are not my favorite in the kid's movie genre. Since it was a mainstream movie, it did not make mention of God or Christianity like the home videos do but it had a great message that could definitely be into a Christian one. The story is about 3 guys (well, vegetables actually) who work as waiters in a dinner theater restaurant and are seen by those around them as somewhat worthless because the way they are living their lives are somewhat worthless. One is lazy, one is afraid of everything and one just doesn't try hard to be much of anything to anyone around him. The trio is called upon to go back in time and fight a pirate who has kidnapped a prince and princess. They are helped along the way by an invention of the King's which provides them with the tools that they need in each particular circumstance. After saving the prince and princess and being seen as heroes by the King, the hero veggies tell the King that they don't understand why he chose them in the first place seeing as how there was nothing special about them and others saw them as less than worthy of such responsibility. He points out to them that he chose them for a reason and reminds them that he helped them and gave them what they needed - whether it be knowledge, material tools to use, or inspiration -at each stage in their journey.

Isn't this just what our Father in Heaven does for us? I've always loved the saying, "God doesn't call the equipped, He equips the called". When I think about being the mother of 3 children, a newborn, a very stubborn and independent 2 year old, and a 4 year old newly diagnosed with a tree nut allergy - all things I find very challenging in and of themselves - I start to freak out. Throw in a husband, household, part time job, etc in there and whoa baby! Straight jacket city! I can't believe that God trusts me with these little people, these relationships, these responsibilities. But, if I just turn to Him, trust in Him and ask Him to, He'll equip me. He'll give me the knowledge, tools and inspiration I need to keep going each day! Isn't that exciting? Isn't it comforting? I think so! I'm so glad the Veggie Tales reminded me of this!