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Of Harry Potter and The Hunger Games

Mar25

What do Harry Potter and The Hunger Games have in common? This is what I notice:

–they both started out as books

–they were both written by women

–the central characters in both series are young

–they are both phenomenally successful

–they both have been denounced by members of the Christian community.

Let me say right now that I would not be one of those members.

On the website http://www.credenda.org, the writer, Douglas Wilson, in a review of “The Hunger Games,” states:

“In short, when you have the privilege of setting up all the circumstances artificially, in order to give your protagonist no real choice about whether to sin or not, it is a pretty safe bet that a whole lot of people in a relativistic country, including the Christians in it unfortunately, won’t notice.”

The gist of the article was that we shouldn’t let our kids watch this movie, or read the book. Wilson says, “But in terms of helping Christian young people set their minds and hearts on that which is noble and right, we can’t even give it one star.”

As a writer, and a follower of Jesus, I can see that I have an obligation to help my readers become better people. But if you are coming from a worldview that does not acknowledge God (and I’m not saying either Suzanne Collins or J.K. Rowling fall into that camp), then you can’t be held to that standard. What these stories do is give parents a chance to actually have meaningful conversations with their kids about what they’re reading.

I have read the Harry Potter series and loved it. I thought the character development was wonderful, the plot amazingly complex and the pace fast and exciting.

I have not yet read The Hunger Games, but I’m fixin’ to, as soon as Justin puts it down.

I talk to my kids about what they read and the worldview adhered to therein. We give them a solid foundation at home and make sure we keep our lines of communication open. I know what they’re reading, I know who their friends are, I have a relationship with my children. I filter the things they can read and watch, but I don’t prohibit all that does not follow the worldview we espouse. Our school calls this living in a wildlife refuge versus a hothouse. They’re exposed to some of the things out there in the world, but protected while they’re at it.

There’s a scene in the second Harry Potter book, The Chamber of Secrets, that holds a great truth. Harry is talking to Professor Dumbledore and is quite concerned about some things that Tom Riddle said to him. He’s afraid he might be like Tom, who is the epitome of evil. In the course of the conversation, the professor helps Harry think through the process that the Sorting Hat went through to put him into the house of Gryffindor. This is what the author said that I thought was so profound:

“‘It only put me in Gryffindor,’ said Harry in a defeated voice, ‘because I asked not to go in Slytherin. . . .’

“‘Exactly,’ said Dumbledore, beaming once more. ‘Which make you very different from Tom Riddle. It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.'”

Romans 7: 15-25 talks about this dilemma: “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.  As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.  For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

“So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

Harry Potter and his friends do not acknowledge God. The powers they have simply come from within themselves. What a great opportunity to talk to our kids about sin and righteousness and God’s grace.

The Hunger Games  puts young people in an ethical dilemma: kill or be killed. What a great chance to talk to our kids about moral absolutes and where that comes from and how God is not just the giver of life, but Life Himself.

And then pray that those who write things our kids love would begin to see things from God’s perspective.

Thankful today for:

138. Homemade pizza

139. The end of a good book

140. A new book to read at the ready

Pruned

Mar24

February in Florida is the time of year when I give my rose bushes their annual pruning. I was a little late this year and didn’t get to it until March. But, regardless, in Florida, the roses are blooming when I prune them. It’s always a painful thing to cut away the new growth and buds and full blossoms, though I do usually get a vaseful to enjoy inside for awhile. But I know this pruning is necessary to keep the plants healthy.

In the Bible, John 15 talks about pruning: “He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful” (v. 2, NIV84).

Huh.

Pruned even though we’re bearing fruit.

We have a little orange tree in our backyard that bloomed beautifully this year, but now it is carrying way too many little pea-sized oranges for its tiny size. I’m going to have to go out when they get just a little bigger and pull most of them off. Why would I do such a thing? Because if I let them all grow to full size, the little tree couldn’t put its energy into growing because it would be putting all its energy into growing the fruit.

Huh.

Picking off fruit so the tree can grow stronger.

Is God amazing or what? There is order in the universe; there is a lesson in every aspect of nature. Lord, give us wisdom to see it.

Thankful today for:
135. good deals on things I’d like to have
136. gift cards to make those deals even better
137. Kohl’s cash to sweeten the deal

Losing God

Mar20

Have you ever lost a child, even for a few moments? It’s terrifying. When Nathan was just a couple of years old, we had annual passes to Sea World. We went there one day with a friend and her kids while her husband was out of town.

After one of the shows, my friend and I took some of the kids to the restroom while David stayed behind with Nathan and maybe one other child. Before long, David comes running to the restrooms area wheeling one of the kids in a stroller, hands me the stroller and runs back yelling over his shoulder, “I’ve lost Nathan!”

20120320-141202.jpgImmediately, panic set in. I had to wait for just a minute for my friend to exit the restroom, and then I rushed back to where we had been. By the time I got there, David already had Nathan in hand. The relief was like a flood washing over my heart.

It took just one distracted moment for Nathan to wander away from his dad, back to where he had been happily playing in the mulch, causing the people nearby to wonder to whom this child belonged. When Dad showed up, Nathan wasn’t worried: He never knew he was lost.

It takes just one distracted moment for us to look around and realize that we have lost track of God. But, unlike losing Nathan, God wasn’t the one who wandered.

We were.

126. An abundant choice of foods, even if I don’t know what to make for dinner
127. Breeze
128. Spring break after a busy week

You Mean It’s Not All About Me?

Mar18

I love applause. I’ve always liked being in the limelight. I like it when people pay attention to me. From the type assessments I’ve done over the years, that’s not a bad thing: it’s just a part of who I am.

But it can become a bad thing. If I’m wanting to take the credit for something God has clearly done, then I am quenching the Holy Spirit’s fire. If I do things just to garner attention for myself, then pride can set in. And that’s definitely not a good thing.

Lead me to the Cross where Your love poured out

Bring me to my knees, Lord I lay me down

Rid me of myself, I belong to You

(“Lead Me To The Cross” Hillsong United)

Rid me of myself.

Figuring out how to do that is the hard part.

God gives us all talents, and He expects us to use them for His glory. But if someone tells me I’m doing a good job, or praises me for my abilities, I am tempted to be pleased with myself instead of thanking God for giving me the talent that He did. Using the talents: good. Claiming them as my own: not so good.

Bring me to my knees, Lord I lay me down. Rid me of myself, I belong to You.

So when people applaud for me, I need to step aside and let the applause flow to heaven. Because God is all that.

And I’m not.

Thankful today for:

120. new flowers

121. little baby avocado buds on our tree

122. the end of the 3rd quarter of school

Hidden Poison, Surprising Fruit

Mar17

I poisoned my eldest son this morning.

I didn’t mean to. But my choice caused him much discomfort, and if it hadn’t been for a quick ingestion of Benadryl, it could have been much worse.

What I thought was a treat, turned into torture as I chose to have his smoothie made with the protein blast instead of the immunity blast it normally comes with, unaware that the protein blast contains whey protein. 

My son is severely allergic to all milk products.

You would think, after 15 years, that I’d know better than to just trust a clerk who says, “Yeah, it’s supposed to be OK.” As we drove home, Justin taking deep breaths and trying to remain calm as his body rebelled against the evil substance, I flashed back to the rush to the hospital he and I had made 15 years ago, when he was just 6 months old and had ingested cow’s milk for the first time. Praise God he never stopped breathing. Now, Benadryl is nearly always at hand.

It’s like that hidden sin that can so easily entangle us. What we think is just an innocent brush with something–just one drink, just one visit to a pornographic website, just one small lie to my spouse about where I was and who I was with–can turn into something much bigger, and even life threatening. Sometimes we don’t even see it coming.

Then there was yesterday. After throwing the ball in the yard for the dog to chase, my mother-in-law came in an announced, “We have a tomato plant in our yard!”

What? How could that be possible since we never planted a tomato plant or seed?

But sure enough, there was this thriving plant, with set fruit on it already, living between ixora bushes, right next to our screen enclosure. What a surprising blessing. Don’t know where it came from, but we will enjoy its fruits.

Sometimes God grows us in ways that are surprising, too. We see the fruit of it in our lives. I like the line from “Evan Almighty.” God is speaking to Evan’s wife, who has taken their boys and headed to her mom’s as she thinks Evan has gone over the edge building this ark thing. God says to her, “Do you think when you pray for patience, that God gives you patience? Or does He give you opportunities to be patient?”

Have you prayed for kindness and wanted God just to make you more kind, and instead He’s given you opportunities to be kind? To love better? To be more peaceful? Gentle? Self-controlled? All fruit of the Spirit. We might not see it for awhile, but like our little tomato plant, one day we all of a sudden realize, we have been bearing good fruit.

Hidden poison, surprising fruit. Both show up in our lives consistently. If we can manage to avoid the one, and thus stay alive in our spirits, then we can live to see the other, and bless people with the results of our growth.

Thankful today for:

117. Benadryl

118. surprise parties

119. speaker phones