My husband is working late. . . I'm in my 3rd trimester and feeling pretty tired after a day out and about. Please don't judge me, but I put on a couple of movies today to entertain the girls (age 5 and age 2). Right now they are watching Happy Feet. If you have never watched the movie, you should! It's very cute. It's about penguins -- well one penguin in particular named Mumble. He is a rather unusual penguin and instead of singing, he prefers to dance. I won't go into details, but basically he ends up saving his penguin colony (or whatever you call it) with his "happy feet" and dance moves.
I don't know too much about Emperor Penguins, but what I do know is striking. Once a female penguin lays her egg, she passes it to her mate who then puts it in a pouch just above his feet. The female penguin then leaves for an extended period of time to search for food in the sea. The male penguin is left alone with the egg for two months. During that time, the temperature in Antarctica drops far below zero and the winter plunges the penguins into total darkness. The males live off their own stored body fat during that time, all the while balancing the eggs between their feet. They huddle together to keep warm, and constantly move and shift so that each bird gets his share of warmth inside the inner circles as well as serving time on the outside perimeter blocking the cold for those inside the circle. As soon as the egg hatches, the females return. In the darkness the only way that the mates recognize each other is by their voices, singing to their mates as loudly as they can. The females then take turns sheltering the young penguins while the fathers take their turn at sea.
Why am I writing about this? While watching this movie with my children I was struck by several "lessons." I was moved by the scene where the male emperor penguins shelter their young. It made me think of our Heavenly Father and how he shelters and protects us during the darkest times of our lives and watches over us as we mature. It reminded me a lot of one of the books my children enjoy us reading to them entitled, Without You, by Sarah Weeks and Suzanne Duranceau. It is also about Emperor penguins. There is a repeated song/ chorus that the baby penguin sings:
Where would I be,
What would I do,
Who in the world would see me through. . .
Where would I be,
What would I do,
Without you?
Where would we be without our Heavenly Father? I am reminded of the scripture, "Never will I leave you; Never will I forsake you," (Hebrews 13:5). But also of one of my favorite Psalms that says, "Even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you (139:12)." For in his love for us, never forsaking or forgetting about us, he sends us his son, Jesus, who said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but have the light of life," (John 8:12).
The sheltering of the other penguins and how they take turns moving in and out of the inner circles made me think of how mature Christians can help those who are less mature to grow spiritually, blocking them from the outside elements that might deter their path to maturity. As these Christians mature, they too will take their turn on the outside of the circle and so the cycle continues. At least that is how I envision the ideal Christian church community should be like.
I also love how the male and female penguin take turns rearing the young. It reminds me of how we as parents need to be mindful that parenting is a shared responsibility. It doesn't matter if one parent works and one parent stays home, or both work. . . Well adjustment in children is correlated with a healthy, happy, supportive home with two parents who love and dutifully share the task of child-rearing. I won't quote results from studies, etc. But numerous research studies have concluded the same thing. This does not mean that single-parent households result in maladjusted children (I know many wonderful children and adults who have come from single-parent homes). It just means that when all else is equal, you will see a greater percentage of happy, well-adjusted children coming from two-parent households rather than single-parent households. On marriage, Malachi 2:15 reads, "Has not the Lord made them one? In flesh and spirit they are his. And why one? Because he was seeking godly offspring."
There are more religious and spiritual undertones in the movie I could comment on, but these are the main things I thought about and got from the penguins in the movie. It confirms my theory that spiritual truth can come from various forms as long as we are open to the voice of the Holy Spirit inside of us guiding and teaching us. Amen!
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