Remember Who You Are

 Many of you will probably remember seeing the animated movie, The Lion King, back in the early 1990s. The story centered around the good lion-king named Mufasa and his training of his little cub-prince, Simba, who would one day take over the kingdom. He wisely mentors his son and teaches him many lessons about how to be good king and continue the good things that Mufasa has tried to do for his domain. He wants Simba to own his place as the heir and to be a worthy inheritor of the kingdom. 

People have long loved this film for many reasons, not the least of which is the always-impactful voice of the late James Earl Jones, who was the voice of good King Mufasa. Upon his death recently, there were many clips from the movies he had done in his illustrious career and some from The Lion King were popping up on my social media feed. One famous scene, however, really stood out to me as I realized there is a powerful truth hidden in it: Mufasa's brother, Simba's jealous uncle, has hatched an evil plan to take down the kingdom and install himself as ruler. In conjunction with some willing hyenas, the uncle creates an ambush situation in which Mufasa ends up being killed. He thinks he took out Simba also but, unbeknownst to him, Simba has escaped. Simba ends up exiled from the kingdom that ought to be his, and experiences some years of wandering and waiting that take him to some places that Mufasa warned him about years before. At a crucial part in the story, Simba is visited by his father's spirit, and he delivers a very important message to the young lion-king: 

"Simba... you have forgotten who you are and thus, have forgotten me... You are my son, and the one, true king. Remember who you are." 

In this powerful exchange, Simba is forced to come to terms with his destiny. His father's spirit is calling him to go back to the kingdom and own his rightful place, just as he was instructed so long before. It is time to assume what ought to be his - to quit wandering and waiting and instead, become and embrace what he was made and trained to be all along. The rest of the movie shows how this journey plays out for Simba. 

This got me to thinking about how our own process of healing and owning our story isn't all that different from Simba's. We have a Creator-God who had a certain design in mind when He made us, placing certain gifts and personality and temperament inside of us that only we have, calling us to do things that only we can do. The challenge is that, just like Simba, we sometimes forget who we are. We forget Whose we are. In trying to figure ourselves and life out, we end up wandering into places we shouldn't go, associating with people we shouldn't know, and slowly losing touch with our real selves and the divine intention with which we were made. 

Each of us often finds ourselves at a crucial moment where God comes to us and tries to help us get back in touch with who we really are. Like Mufasa's spirit told Simba, God wants us to understand that when we forget who we are and were made to be, in a way, we've forgotten God, too. We've lost touch with His original design and intent for us. We've forgotten that we are His child, His heir. In not being true to ourselves and who God created us to be, we are, in a way, dishonoring Him. It is at this point that He wants us to understand and embrace one very important thing: remember. who. you. are. 

The way back home from the wilderness is a two-fold process: regaining touch with who you innately are while also looking ahead to who you're becoming. Holding these two things is the key to authenticity. In order to be true to who you were made to be, you need to step away from the voices and things that have called you to "shadow places" that aren't reflective of the Light. Just as Mufasa warned Simba to only roam the lands "where the light touches" and never to go to the "shadowy place," so our Creator has given us abundance to explore. Yet, as did Adam and Eve, we crave what we cannot have. We long for things that are substitutes and counterfeits. And so we end up slowly giving ourselves away in a gradual fade until one day, we look in the mirror and realize we don't recognize ourselves anymore. We have left our first love. 

But God has not left us to figure this out alone. Just as Mufasa promised Simba that the kings of old would be written in the stars and would look down on him to guide him, God has promised that He is always with us and that His Spirit will call us to return again and again in an endless invite of redemption and forgiveness. A quote I've long loved that's attributed to C.S. Lewis states that, "we all want progress, but if you're on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back the soonest is the most progressive." 

If you're going to find your way out of the shadowy places you've wandered in, forgetting your inheritance and losing touch with yourself, the first step is realizing where you stop being true to what you knew to be real and worthy in the first place. When did other voices become a substitute for God's? When did you start to forget who you were made to be and what you were made for? It starts with looking in the mirror and reminding yourself of what you've been given and also being honest about what you've squandered. It worked for the prodigal son, and it can work for you. The beckoning on this journey is for us to come back and enjoy what is rightfully ours - to embrace our place as a beloved and created child of God. Remember who we are. Remember who He is and, in so doing, rediscover who we were meant to be all along.