I had the pleasure of escorting my wife and two daughters to the theater this past Friday. We saw the movie "African Cats." We recently adopted our first cat, and it has quickly become an important and special part of our family. I always was anti-cat and pro-dog, but I actually am mesmerized watching our fluffy, playful feline do her thing. She crouches, hides, and then attacks with abandon and precision at the same time. I can only imagine what a much larger version of our cat could do, so with that in mind we went to the movie.
We were not disappointed either. The movie captures the real life story of two cat families, one a lion pride and the other a cheetah family. The Kenyan landscape is beautiful and foreboding at the same time, while the skill and instincts of the cats is amazing. And yes, they reminded us of our beloved pet.
The cheetah family was led by Sita, a fearless, wise, and skilled mother of five cubs. The lion story focused on Mara, a young lion whose mother died fairly early in the movie. I came away from the movie reminded of the importance of moms (and dads) and the role of older women in the church. In the end Sita's cubs, having grown to maturity under the watchful care and training of their mother, were skilled in the art of hunting and survival on the savanna. They were able to go forward and thrive. Mara, on the other hand, struggled without her mother. She found it difficult to hunt and almost starved to death. She found herself in precarious situations as well. One time she was caught in the middle of a water buffalo herd, and a fallen tree provided a place to get above the trampling hooves and menacing horns. Mara was finally able to reconnect to her pride; taken in and accepted by her aunts she was able to thrive.
Of course, I see some lessons in this movie for families and the church. The importance of loving, caring, and active parents in the life of their children is one lesson. Another lesson is the role of older, more experienced women in the lives of younger women. In the case of Mara, she was unable to navigate the challenges of life effectively because her time with her mother was cut short. It was only the tutelage and example of the pride's adult female cats that allowed her to live a productive life. This reminded me of Titus 2:3-5, a passage that instructs older women to teach younger women how to live a life that is honoring to God. Sadly, this admonition seems to be ignored today by many. As I deal with women in the church I find that they are either ignorant of their responsibility or seemed to have abdicated it altogether. What a travesty!
God has ordained that their be interaction among generations,and the onus is on the older to set a godly example for the younger. But the door does swing both ways in some sense. First, the more experienced and advanced in years have to be willing to take the time and energy to invest in the lives of the generations following after. In order to set examples in godliness they must know the ways of God, which is impossible without meditating upon God's Word. Perhaps the reason older women do not know or seem to care about being a "Titus woman" is because they have never read or been taught Titus 2! Secondly, the younger folks need to be willing to listen and learn. I was reminded of this today as I was reading in Proverbs; "Listen, my sons, to a father's instruction; pay attention and gain understanding."
