 | In the movie, “Lion,” a 5-year-old little boy, Saroo, gets separated from his brother and ends up lost. He boards a train, thinking he would find his brother, Guddu, however the ride will take him thousands of miles from his brother and his home. The story of Saroo takes us on a journey from an obscure village in the hills of India through Calcutta to his new homeland of Australia where he lived with his adopted parents. Eventually, memories of his childhood come back to him, which sets him on another kind journey to retrace his travels to find his birth mother. With their encouragement of his adoptive parents, he searches and finds his “mum” and in that moment, he understood that he had finally found his real “home.” He knew that his adoptive parents loved him and yet he was missing something very tangible, his heart’s home. He had been lost for 25 years. |
This little boy lived a lifetime of experiences in a very short time as he travelled throughout India and Australia. Many times he was in dire straights and in need of some serious help. At one point, a woman fed and bathed him and gained his trust, with the intent to hand him over to be sold or prostituted. Before this awful plan could be carried out, he managed to escape without incident. Even at 5-years-old child, Saroo trusted his instincts. This trust was a constant companion as he faced choices most of us will never have to make. Maybe that is why I am so attracted to this movie. What can be learned from his innocent yet wise ability to trust himself through very difficult and unexpected events?
The word trust is very familiar to most of us and one that we can easily take for granted. So what is trust? According to the on-line dictionary, trust is defined with words like integrity, strength, and confidence, which are good and noble words that most of us admire and strive to follow daily. Being too young to fully grasp the true meaning of these words, Saroo would have had to learn about them by the actions of his mom and older brother. Another word that defines trust is the word hope. In moments of doubt and weakness what kept the fire alive in Saroo to find his home again? Hope! Much can be learned from that persistent hope through moments of despair. In tough times, I turn to the Bible to find words of hope like from the Letter of Romans as Paul writes:
“Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we* have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.”
The Apostle Paul tells us that we can find hope in the love of Christ, which gives us the confidence and strength to face the challenges of each day. Our faith rests in the promise of God’s love and by his grace, we are able us to share in God’s glory. This is hope.
I believe it is this little boy’s hope and trust that has attracted me to this true story in the movie “Lion.” When he found his birth mother, he also discovered that for years he had mispronounced his name Saroo. He had been christened with the name Sheru, which in Hindi means lion. Lions are well known for their courage and strength, which seemed to push him to fight against losing hope and trust himself to follow his lion’s heart and find his “home.” His courage and boldness makes me stand up straighter and be confident in trusting the person God created me to be and believe that I too have found my “heart’s” home in Christ.
The word trust is very familiar to most of us and one that we can easily take for granted. So what is trust? According to the on-line dictionary, trust is defined with words like integrity, strength, and confidence, which are good and noble words that most of us admire and strive to follow daily. Being too young to fully grasp the true meaning of these words, Saroo would have had to learn about them by the actions of his mom and older brother. Another word that defines trust is the word hope. In moments of doubt and weakness what kept the fire alive in Saroo to find his home again? Hope! Much can be learned from that persistent hope through moments of despair. In tough times, I turn to the Bible to find words of hope like from the Letter of Romans as Paul writes:
“Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we* have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.”
The Apostle Paul tells us that we can find hope in the love of Christ, which gives us the confidence and strength to face the challenges of each day. Our faith rests in the promise of God’s love and by his grace, we are able us to share in God’s glory. This is hope.
I believe it is this little boy’s hope and trust that has attracted me to this true story in the movie “Lion.” When he found his birth mother, he also discovered that for years he had mispronounced his name Saroo. He had been christened with the name Sheru, which in Hindi means lion. Lions are well known for their courage and strength, which seemed to push him to fight against losing hope and trust himself to follow his lion’s heart and find his “home.” His courage and boldness makes me stand up straighter and be confident in trusting the person God created me to be and believe that I too have found my “heart’s” home in Christ.
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