The Gift of Compassion
4/2/12
Grace and Peace Friends,
My nieces introduced me to the movie, How to Train Your
Dragon. I figured it was just another kids movie and it would be something good to bond with
them over. I could not have imagined that it would give such a great picture of how to bring
about reconciliation in a community.
The main character is a Viking teenager, Hiccup,
who is small and brainy, and just does not measure up in his Viking
community. But the community itself had an issue they were facing: they had dragons constantly showing up to raid them.
The one dragon that no one in the town could defeat was a Night Fury. Hiccup, through a
creative sling shot machine, was finally able to knock it down.
When he went to find the body of the dragon, he found that it was still alive but injured. The rest of the story is about how he forged a relationship with the dragon, Toothless, while still having to attend the dragon fighting school. Long story short, Hiccup's friendship with Toothless helps saves the day.
But, the other side of the story was that the dragons were fighting a battle of their own. They were battling the ultimate beast, the Red Death, who was the driving force behind the dragon's need to raid the viking village. The dragons were feeding the Red Death so that he would not eat them but you can imagine that if the dragons were out of the way, the Vikings would have been next. Once Hiccup and his friends supported the dragons in destroying their enemy, they were all able to live together in peace.
When he went to find the body of the dragon, he found that it was still alive but injured. The rest of the story is about how he forged a relationship with the dragon, Toothless, while still having to attend the dragon fighting school. Long story short, Hiccup's friendship with Toothless helps saves the day.
But, the other side of the story was that the dragons were fighting a battle of their own. They were battling the ultimate beast, the Red Death, who was the driving force behind the dragon's need to raid the viking village. The dragons were feeding the Red Death so that he would not eat them but you can imagine that if the dragons were out of the way, the Vikings would have been next. Once Hiccup and his friends supported the dragons in destroying their enemy, they were all able to live together in peace.
There were several thoughts that rang out to me while
watching this. The first being that we can be right in a situation but so wrong in our solution. The
Vikings were right in their position on the dragons. The dragons were coming
in and destroying their communities. They were taking their food. The dragons were
creating havoc in their Vikings lives and in the community. But the Vikings thought their only solution was to
eliminate the dragons.
This story was really about Hiccup having to navigate his fears and cultural beliefs to find a way to compassion. And it was in the midst of compassion, a relationship was forged. And once that relationship was forged, that led him to help someone, who he previously thought of as his enemy, to destroy the true enemy. The reality is that neither the Vikings nor the dragons could have fought the real enemy by themselves and won. It required both parties involved working in congruence and each one using their individual giftings to gain the victory.
In Ephesians 6:12-13 it states, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.”
When we look at others who have caused us pain, do we see them separately from our pain and can we see their stance on the issue at hand? As I was pondering this, I came across the story in 2 Chronicles 20 about King Jehoshaphat . The passage shares about how they worshiped and praised the Lord and the Lord fought the battle for them. It then took them three days to collect all the spoil from the victory! However, the story ends that although Jehoshaphat did right in the Lord's eyes, the high places were not removed and the people had not yet directed their hearts to the God of their fathers (2 Chronicles 20:32-33). The question in my heart is what are the high places in my life and in our community? What does it mean to remove them?
In the movie, I believe the high place was the volcano on the island near where the Red Death was hiding. In the heart of the high place, the pulse of evil influenced all of their lives whether they recognized it or not. The reality was that if the Vikings kept up their strategy of killing dragons, they would never have had peace because the greater enemy would still be hungry and continue to command his way. My current prayer is "Lord, reveal the high places and please give me the courage to trust you and obey however you want me to for their destruction."
In the 1828 dictionary, the basic definition of compassion is suffering with another. It is mixed passion compounded with love and sorrow. As Hiccup shared in the suffering of Toothless and Toothless with Hiccup (it went both ways), they both found freedom. Our Savior, Jesus, gave us the greatest example of compassion. He was passionate towards us and with love and sorrow took on our suffering so that we may have freedom.
This story was really about Hiccup having to navigate his fears and cultural beliefs to find a way to compassion. And it was in the midst of compassion, a relationship was forged. And once that relationship was forged, that led him to help someone, who he previously thought of as his enemy, to destroy the true enemy. The reality is that neither the Vikings nor the dragons could have fought the real enemy by themselves and won. It required both parties involved working in congruence and each one using their individual giftings to gain the victory.
In Ephesians 6:12-13 it states, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.”
When we look at others who have caused us pain, do we see them separately from our pain and can we see their stance on the issue at hand? As I was pondering this, I came across the story in 2 Chronicles 20 about King Jehoshaphat . The passage shares about how they worshiped and praised the Lord and the Lord fought the battle for them. It then took them three days to collect all the spoil from the victory! However, the story ends that although Jehoshaphat did right in the Lord's eyes, the high places were not removed and the people had not yet directed their hearts to the God of their fathers (2 Chronicles 20:32-33). The question in my heart is what are the high places in my life and in our community? What does it mean to remove them?
In the movie, I believe the high place was the volcano on the island near where the Red Death was hiding. In the heart of the high place, the pulse of evil influenced all of their lives whether they recognized it or not. The reality was that if the Vikings kept up their strategy of killing dragons, they would never have had peace because the greater enemy would still be hungry and continue to command his way. My current prayer is "Lord, reveal the high places and please give me the courage to trust you and obey however you want me to for their destruction."
In the 1828 dictionary, the basic definition of compassion is suffering with another. It is mixed passion compounded with love and sorrow. As Hiccup shared in the suffering of Toothless and Toothless with Hiccup (it went both ways), they both found freedom. Our Savior, Jesus, gave us the greatest example of compassion. He was passionate towards us and with love and sorrow took on our suffering so that we may have freedom.
I look at the culture around me and I see things becoming more
and more polarized. An easy example of this is of course, politics. I see both sides declaring that
they are right and digging in their heels to enforce their claim. I can see many of the reasons why each side believes they are right as I could
see the "right" in the Vikings views on the dragons.
But I guess what I question is, where is the compassion? If we do not build a bridge and help destroy the common enemy, then we are caught in this destructive pattern of us versus them. Compassion on the front end may look weak and ineffective but the reality is that it’s the strong weapon to bring true peace. The question that I am asking myself is - how am I cultivating compassion in my life?
Wendy
But I guess what I question is, where is the compassion? If we do not build a bridge and help destroy the common enemy, then we are caught in this destructive pattern of us versus them. Compassion on the front end may look weak and ineffective but the reality is that it’s the strong weapon to bring true peace. The question that I am asking myself is - how am I cultivating compassion in my life?
Wendy
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| Hiccup & Toothless |
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