3 REMINDERS FROM A SMURF

We took a group of girls to see the new Smurf 3 movie recently. I have never been a Smurf fan so I was not exactly thrilled to spend 2 hours watching little blue characters on the big screen. Of course the girls were excited so I put my game face on, settled in my seat and began to watch the movie with the same excitement as my movie buddies. It didn’t take long before my “forced” zeal became genuine. The main characters of the movie are Clumsy Smurf, Brainy Smurf, Hefty Smurf and my personal favorite, Smurfette, the only girl in the group. This crew spends their time looking for the lost village before the villain, Gargamel, finds it. All the while, Papa Smurf, tries to keep them safe and protected from the unknown.
The big news of the story is that Smurfette was not born a Smurf. She was created by Gargamel out of a lump of clay. Even though Papa Smurf redeemed her and made her a part of His family in Smurfy Village, that wasn’t enough. There was something deep inside telling her she was created for more than what she was experiencing. She didn’t look like the other smurfs (I mean look at the blond hair) and she didn’t act like them either. So the quest begins. She sets out looking for her purpose. Even her supportive friends couldn’t help her. This was something she had to do on her own. Unfortunately, during her adventures, she encounters and is captured by Gargamel and relegated back to being a hump of clay. With hope, help from her family and a heartfelt plea from Papa Smurf that even made me shed a tear, she comes back to life. This time with a realization of who she really is.
I thought about how as “humans” we search frantically for our true identity. Even when our Papa (God Himself through Jesus) redeems us and makes us apart of his family, we still don’t feel accepted and loved. So we go searching. What if we could just believe God? What would happen if we just took Him at His word? How much time and heartache and despair would be eliminated if we believed we are who He said we are!
Smurfette’s life is a reminder of what we need to remember if we are to live life…On Purpose:

1. God’s purpose can’t be undone

Let’s face it. Not all days are good days. Sometimes people are not always good to us. There are days we feel like superwoman and others it is a major victory to put 2 sentences together coherently. On those days when we don’t feel special or when we don’t feel anything at all, we must realize it is not how we look or feel, we are accepted, chosen, and called of God. Period. If man rejects us, if we don’t feel worthy or equipped or prepared, it doesn’t change our status. We are still accepted. We still have a purpose from God.

When Smurfette was on the ground, a helpless lump of clay, her situation looked bleak. It appeared that Gargamel had won. But her Papa and her friends rallied around her and something happened behind the scenes that brought life back to her body and her situation.

This is what the Bible says in Job 42:2:

“I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted”. Job knew first-hand how life can make you feel helpless, hopeless and without purpose.

Man can spend countless hours trying to stop the purpose of God but God always ultimately accomplishes His will and His plan. We can rest in this promise.

2. You were created perfectly for your purpose.

The fact she was a GIRL was a big clue to Smurfette she was not like everyone else in Smurfy Village. The big hair, high heels and a very lovely white linen dress were more than glaring indicators that she was cut from a different cloth.

Jeremiah 1:5 is one of my favorite passages of scripture. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart.” Our existence did not take God by surprise. He was the one who created us.

I used to think that women were marginalized simply because they were women. I still believe that is true in some situations but now I also believe as women we have a hard time integrating and accepting all of who we are—our uniqueness, our quirks and our femininity–into our calling. We have a difficult time accepting who we are at our core. It becomes worse when we can’t see others that look like us. Instead of becoming trailblazers and the model, we shrink back. We have to remind ourselves of the truth. The truth is everything about us, the stuff we love and the stuff we don’t, are all being used to bring about God’s purpose in our lives. We can rest in being exactly who we are because God created us a certain way…on purpose. The goal is to embrace it!

3. God has the right connections and people to help you fulfill your destiny

At the end of the day, Smurfette finds a tribe called Smurfy Grove and they unite with Smurfy Village forming one big happy family. Now she doesn’t have to sacrifice one relationship for the other. In Smurfy Grove she sees other girls doing cool stuff. Now she knows she can do cool stuff too. This unity of the 2 groups allows Smurfette to see her true identity and most of all her purpose. She realizes she was a Smurf all along and most of all, she could be anything she wanted to be.
Just because we can’t see how God is going to get us from point A to point B, does not mean that God can’t see it. He has the path already laid out. All we have to do is walk in obedience. God will cause the right people to come into our life at the right time to help us fulfill the purpose for which we have been created. We can’t make the mistake of looking where we are currently to determine where we are going.
The New Living Translation of Psalm 37:23 reads like this:
“The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives”
That is a good reminder!!
The girls left singing and dancing to a really cool song at the end of the movie. I left the theater knowing God had used little blue characters on a big screen to speak to me.

Live On Purpose

Kimberly