Tender Heart, Young Soul

I admit, I get tired and bored of watching Disney movies over and over again. Don't get me wrong I enjoy watching the sloppy spaghetti scene in Lady and the Tramp, I get all teared up when Bambi's mom dies, and my heart gushes when the handsome prince comes to Aurora's (Sleeping Beauty) rescue...but...every once in awhile when we watch a movie with the boys I want something different.

The other night I decided to watch Soul Surfer with my boys. I thought you know this is probably an okay movie for the boys to watch. It teaches good Christian values, and compassion. Besides most of the time when we are watching a movie Kaden doesn't really watch it anyways. Instead he treats the furniture like a jungle gym, climbing all over it and whoever else is sitting on it. Kaleb on the other hand, is really starting to pay attention and he can recall what happens in movie even better than me.

This is the picture that Kaleb drew of the girl Bethany surfing on

her surf board with one arm and he even drew the shark next to her.

If you haven't seen the movie, Soul Surfer, I am sure you might have heard that it is the true story of a talented, young girl who has dreams of a professional surfing career but she unfortunately gets attacked by a shark and loses an arm. It is her story about how she overcomes her obstacles and stays positive. When the shark attacked the girl, Kaleb's eyes were glued to the TV and for a moment I thought that it might be too much for him. The whole time he was very concerned about her and wanted her to be okay. He was exhibiting compassion for her and seeing the look of compassion on a four year olds face is truly precious.

I won't give you all the details, but later on in the movie the girl (Bethany) competes in a surf competition. Even though it was just a movie there was a lot of anxiousness and not just with the actors in the movie, but in our living room too. It was during this time that Kaleb said outloud, "Please, oh please, oh please let the girl with one arm win!" With that simple statement I thought to myself, and with a little chuckle, that I wish we all (adults) could feel compassion like children do...tenderly and innocently. Kaleb went on to tell me that just because she lost her arm, she wasn't any different and she was special to God too (I talk to the boys all the time about how we are different, but God made us that way so we are all special). Kaleb was so touched by the movie that he even drew a picture (he is really into writing/drawing right now) depicting what happened to the girl and wanted to hang it on our fridge (see above).

Even though I am the adult, I learn lessons from my young sons each day. Lessons about life, love, compassion, and character. I am so lucky to have them in my life to remind me to be positive and not give any mind to the differences there are among us, but rather the things that tie us together.