I love the movie Moana. It is probably, first and foremost, due to my immense love of the ocean. Seeing as how the movie is set in what I am assuming is a cartoon version of Hawaii, you can't help but have the ocean all around, and my heart is called to the ocean. From the time I was a baby, I have been around the ocean. I was born in Florida, though as a baby I didn't live near the water, instead spending my very early years in Indianapolis, then Texas, then finally settling back in Indiana when I was in first grade. So I didn't get to have the water around constantly as a child, but I always missed it--it was something set deep in my soul since my creation, as I know God knew I would need something to remind me of a power beyond myself.
My grandma however lived in FL and we would visit at least every summer, and we would always go to the beach. For some reason, my soul is always settled by the ocean. When I went through a really bad depressive episode at the end of 2020, the ocean was a healing balm to me. I was old enough, the kids were old enough, and our lives were such that when I told Kris I needed the ocean, and I thought he would get me to Virginia or FL, instead he arranged a trip to Mexico and had me on the beach a week later. It was an incredible time of healing for me, and it showed me that I can find healing at the ocean.
Beyond that, it spurs me on, because I know that at the end of that horizon, at the end of my life, there is a very real place called Heaven, and I am promised a home there. So the ocean reminds me of that forever Home, and the movie Moana is an incredible picture of finding your purpose while you are here on earth, and also chasing after the horizon, stepping into the ocean, and journeying to fulfill that purpose while you are given breath here.
Maybe my connections in this movie are a stretch, and I know that Disney gets a really bad rap for hidden messages or pushing agendas. But movies are art. And you can find beauty and truth in art, and I just can't help but wonder what all truths I miss out on, when I don't have my eyes open to see them. So yes, art is subjective, and maybe you won't follow my connections here, but that's OK. Because these were given to me, by a God who loves me and knows how much I connect to the ocean. This is MY interpretation of the art that is the movie, Moana.
The movie begins with Moana as a very little girl, listening to her grandmother tell a story. It is a story as old as time. There was good, and man who thought he was also a god, stole the very heart from what was good in the land, and a darkness began to grow. The tale in this village is that one day, one of their people will journey far across the ocean to put the heart back where it belongs.
Can we talk first of all just about the imagery there?
In the beginning, there was good. Before the earth was created, and upon its initial creation, everything on the earth was GOOD.
But though man had all he needed, but he got greedy and wanted still more. So he stole the very heart from the land and evil came in and was given a place to reign. Evil has always been with us, since Adam and Eve decided to do things their own way back in the garden. Humans have stolen the heart of God and placed it in worthless things, that get our worship instead of God. And this leaves us separated from the One who gave us all we have to begin with.
But one day, there will be one who will rise up to defeat the evil and darkness once and for all and restore the heart, bringing peace and healing back to the people. JESUS!!!
So I could leave it there. I could just leave it at that intro into what God is teaching me through Moana. But there is SO MUCH MORE I want to write through, if for no other reason than to understand what I am feeling stirring in my heart.
I don't know how many parts there will be, but there is far more here than one blog post. And you know I will say in 10,000 words what can be said in 1,000, if given a chance. So, in order to really dig into what I am experiecing through this movie (and for me, this is an act of worship in a way), I am recognizing that it may need more than one 10,000 word blog post. So I will leave you here for now, with the background for this story and my take on the not-so-hidden elements within.
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