Wild Thing
What it is: Families are watching The Wild Robot, an adventure film about nature, technology, and—oddly enough—parenting.
Why it’s not just for younger kids: The Wild Robot was first a science fiction novel aimed at children and teenagers. Its central premise revolves around a sophisticated, AI-powered droid who gets shipwrecked on an island inhabited only by animals. After a terrible accident, the droid who comes to be known as Roz becomes the sole caretaker of an orphaned newborn gosling named Brightbill. With the help of a sly fox, a wry possum, and an ensemble of other creatures, the robot embarks on the task of raising Brightbill to “eat, swim, fly.” The film’s slow, meditative pacing makes up for its somewhat predictable plot, and themes of sacrifice, forgiveness, and gratitude are prominent throughout. Though Roz is just a robot, the character’s determination to protect and provide brings up plenty of human emotion.
Let's translate this one further...
Most teens don’t need us to serve their immediate physical needs in the way they did when they were small. Their baby spoons languish in the back of the silverware drawer like artifacts from another era, and the buoyant swimming safety vests from their toddler years have been deflating, slowly, in the attic. All that’s left is the final challenge: teaching them to fly.
We might build them a runway, find them the best mentors, and teach them everything we know. But we can’t fly for them—even if we wish we could.
When Roz calculates the enormity of the task of raising a baby animal, she blurts out, “I do not have the programming to be a mother!” A nearby possum named Pinktail, who happens to be carrying her own seven babies on her back, replies with the wisdom of a more seasoned parent: “No one does. We just make it up.”
By the time our kids are teenagers, most of us have felt like Roz in this scene—ill-equipped, unprepared, and like we are the wrong person for the job. Many of us have probably also felt like Pinktail—weathered, agile, and used to improvising.
It is true that Roz is not well-prepared for the task she calls “eat, swim, fly.” It is also true that she must learn to be flexible and adapt to unforeseen circumstances. But she commits wholly to her gosling charge. And this act of devotion, along with some willingness to get creative, transforms her abilities. It wasn’t the task she was expecting. But that doesn’t mean she wasn’t made for it.
Parenthood is a divine calling. We don’t inherit it by accident. God designs families with every one of our strengths and weaknesses in mind. He knows us intimately, and He loves us unfathomably. As it says in Psalm 33:11, “The plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of His heart through generations.”
We love our teens hard, and then they go. We watch them taking off from runways that cost us everything to build. But even when it feels like they’re flying into a land of uncertainty that we have never laid eyes on, they are held within God’s perfect plan built from ever-knowing, everlasting love.
No comments:
Post a Comment