What God Taught me about Moana, The Heart of Tafiti and My Heart


"Mo! Mo! Mo!"

This has been the excited chant of my toddler age daughter when she wants to experience the magic of the Disney movie "Moana". As many of you can understand, we mama's/adults can get a little burnt out by the latest obsessions of the Little's in our lives. Whether it be a book, movie, or even an outfit that holds special significance and magic to a child, it can become old as quickly as the child grows out of said obsession.

At first I didn't care for Moana. I thought it was too much like "Pocohontas" and lacked originality in the story line. But after watching it at least 150 times, God began to tug at my heart with some messages that He tucked away in what would be considered a secular childhood fairy tale.

For those of you who aren't familiar with the story line of Moana, I encourage you to watch the movie or google the title to get a full understanding this Disney phenomenon. The scene that God whispered to my heart about is placed towards the end of the movie.

Quick recap:

Moana is a village princess who is heir to the throne of her father, making her the future chief of her village. Due to fear and comfort zones, the people of her village hadn't left their island for many, many decades, because all that they needed to survive and thrive was on their island. However, a drought/feminine occurred, forcing the village people to come up with a solution for their survival.

Moana had been "called" to the ocean BY the ocean since she was a toddler, and as the impending doom of her village became the reality, that calling grew even more fierce and made more clear.

In order to save her village, she was called by the ocean to restore the heart of Tafiti, a goddess of old who holds the key to the wealth and prosperity of the world. An arrogant, pride seeking demi god named Maui had stolen the heart to obtain it's powerful resources, eventually leading to the poor and suffering state of Moana's village. Moana locates Maui ( Well, the ocean leads her to him) and of course they venture to Tafiti to restore the world as they know it.

Phew.

Now, here is the whole reason I'm writing this blog post:

One of the nemesis's on Moana's journey that she needs to get past is "Te-kah: The demon of fire and water." Te-Kah has spent her life being angry, filled with hate, erupting with fire and lava. And when she wasn't erupting, she was a cold, dark mountain/volcano, possessing no real beauty.

Once Moana made it past Te-Kah to Tafiti, she realized that Ta-Fiti was no where to be found, until she realized that Te-Kah was indeed Tafiti without her heart.

In a "Moses crosses the red sea" moment, Moana commands the ocean to part and for Te-Kah to come to her. Fearless of the terrifying rock monster who had just tried to kill her, she sings these haunting and powerful words:

"I have crossed the horizon to find you
 I know your name
 They have stolen the heart from inside you
 But this does not define you
 This is not who you are
 I know who you are."


I get chills every time I see this scene and hear these words. Friends, if you haven't figured this out already, this is a perfect and beautiful analogy of what we are without Christ. Without Christ we are hard and dark as stone, cold and unmovable. Without Christ we have pain, resentment and anger that builds inside of us, causing us to spew hate towards ourselves and others. We have no other purpose but to turn towards ourselves; a death sentence while living.

All until, our Heavenly Father comes to you without hesitation or fear. He created you and knows every facet of you, but more so, created you to need Him. When He died for you, He restored your heart. It is only then that any semblance of life, prosperity, purpose and peace can flow from you, because you were designed with the Creator in mind.

Friend, maybe God has already restored your heart, but you are experiencing a season where you are as cold as stone to Him, questioning the purpose of life and if it's really worth all of the pain and heart ache. Maybe you have so much anger and resentment, but you are just tired of it. Your heavenly Father longs to restore you and remind you  that you are of no worth apart from Him.

In a world that tells you that your worth is dependent on you; Your education, your experiences, your relationships, what YOU do in any given moment; Take heart and KNOW that it is not about you, and until you can gain the maturity needed to really "get" this with your whole mind, body and soul, you will not have peace and be resigned from the never ending cycle of me.

These things do not define you; He knows who we are.

Take heart, be restored. May the Holy Spirit enable you to let Him do it all, because dear one, He already has.


Comments

  1. Whoa whoa whoa! That was seriously incredible. What a beautiful connection to make to Christ. It is also a current obsession in our house...I seriously have the avabili to tune it out now, lol!! I love that as believers and followers, we can look at the world through the lens of Christ and see Him in all things.

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      It's still early...need coffee

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    2. Girl, I'm not sure how I missed this comment earlier, but thank you! :) I'm so glad I could be a blessing to you.

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