This past weekend, we decided to take the kids to watch Peanuts. I grew up reading Charlie Brown comics in the Sunday paper and loved all the TV Holiday specials so much. I thought it would be a great day for our kids to gain appreciation for these old classic characters. And Emeli thinks Snoopy is just the cutest dog ever, so they were just as thrilled. We, as parents, are very selective with what movies we support at the box office and what we allow our kids to watch, but with a "G" rating and good reviews it sounded like something that would really just be innocent fun cartoons.
We didn't know what to expect as far as the story line, but as someone who lives in a cartoon world in my own head, I was pleasantly surprised there were no villains. Besides a red airplane that Snoopy daydreams and writes about. The main story line was Charlie Brown's "inadequacy". He always felt he was just ackward, with no real talent, or anything to make him stand out. A new red haired girl in his class became the object of his affection. He had a crush. And yet barely could speak to her or get her to notice him. He was clumsy, never able to fly a kite, or excel at anything in particular and he felt he was just not good enough for her to like him.
He sought advice from Lucy's sidewalk advice stand and was given a book on how to be a winner. He ends up joining a talent show, which he ends up giving up his performance to save his little sister from embarrassment. He tries to win a dancing contest at the school winter dance and ends up dancing so well a shoe flies off and he sets off the sprinkler system that ruins and ends the dance. Eventually, he ends up becoming somebody when his standardized test score comes back as a 100, the highest score in school history. After being congratulated and set on a pedestal where everyone is wearing his iconic yellow shirt, he sees the test and realized it was never his. He admits it in front of the school auditorium and goes back to being normal, ackward, misfit, Charlie Brown.
One day when the little red haired girl is absent from school, he is picked to be her partner for a book report. Setting off to impress her, he decides to read "War and Peace" and write the report on his own. It all pushes him to read the huge book and write more than he ever has until eventually in the school playground that morning, the report gets shredded to pieces.
He struggles through the movie to feel that he is good at anything. Or that he is worth the little red hair girl's time. He struggles with insecurity, and feeling like he has nothing to make him stand out.
Yet at the end of the movie, when the school year is over and they're picking partners for the Summer Pen Pal project, he gets picked by the little red hair girl. He works up the courage by looking up to the sky before she sets off to summer camp to ask her why she would pick him, since he did not want her to do it out of pity. And this part has to be the best part because it's something I'm trying to do teach my kids.
She responded that she picked him because of all the traits he had exhibited through everything he labeled a mishap. He showed compassion to his little sister at the talent show and saved her from embarrassment. He showed honesty admitting in front of the school, the test wasn't his. He showed courage at the dancing competition and he showed love and care working on the book report himself while she was absent from school. All this time, his crush had been more interested in his character than any talent, intelligence, or charm he though he needed.
I was in love with this movie! My son Emmanuel so far has been very talented and gifted in anything he attempts to do. From basketball, to swimming, to now soccer, modeling in the past, school, reading, rapping, dancing...you name it. He constantly gets complimented on his accomplishments. And as parents we celebrate them. But constantly are reminding him... one, that all those talents come from God and there's nothing outside of him that Emmanuel can do. And 2, that no matter how proud of his grades, talents and accomplishments I am, it won't matter at all in life if he can't be a loving, caring individual to the world. As Emeli has started to excel in school, and is starting extracurricular activities, I am praying I can teach her the same lesson.
It's easy to get down when we feel we have nothing to offer. We may not be talented singers, actors, smart doctors, or lawyers, or even have the ability to speak in public. We may feel we are not enough in anything we do. Or we can let our accomplishments and compliments go to our head and forget humility and love towards others. But we should all be more like Charlie Brown.
I encourage you today to go on and take chances and improve yourself like Charlie Brown. Join the talent show, pick up dancing, read a book above your level, do something not to impress others but to improve you and move out of your comfort zone. But also above all, be like Charlie Brown, look up to God and know it's Him who enables you, who empowers you, and who equips yo to excel at anything you put your mind to. But through any talent, any compliment or accolades that you receive, let your character shine through. Let it be the love of Christ for others, the compassion, the honesty, the courage that shines above all. And that makes others see something in you that stands out! Be a misfit. Be inadequate. Be all God wants you to be, but above it all know nothing matters as much as your love for God and others and how that shines through in all you do. Take your kids to watch "Peanuts", because it has a perfect message for them.
Love, Meli
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