Bring It On



Everyone likes The Emperor's New Groove!



How many of you have seen Disney's hit movie The Emperor's New Groove? (**almost everyone's hands go up**)  Excellent.  Because that's one of my all-time favorites.  (I do a mean Kronk impression.  You'll have to ask me to do it for you sometime.  But I digress...once again)  As silly and ridiculous as that movie is, if you are looking, you can find applicable principles to govern your life.

Por exemplo:



One of the most oft-quoted scenes is where Kuzco and Pacha find themselves "tied to a log...careening out of control down a raging river of death!" (as little Tipo later puts it after having a comically-timed and strangely prophetic dream).  Then he says... you know what?  Just watch it.

Oh man.  SO.  Good.

The lesson?  We all face huge waterfalls with sharp rocks at the bottom from time to time in our lives.  That's life!  If it were all smooth sailing, how would we learn?  Of course, we don't try to get thrown around; but when we face insurmountable odds, we can have the steely-nerved chutzpah of Kuzco, knowing that whatever comes, God will make it all right. 

BOOYAH!

Much Love,
Elder Spendlove

Video from YouTube...duh
Image from: http://digitalmediafx.com/Columns/JimHill/02getgroove.html

Never a Truer Friend

Well, the Christmas season is wrapping up (or unwrapping, seen differently).  The gifts have pretty much all been exchanged; the parties are becoming fewer and fewer; the lights have perhaps lost a bit of that magical twinkle the get before Christmas; but the gift of God, our Savior Jesus Christ, still lives on!  His influence in our lives will still continue, undimmed by calendar days. 

I have been thinking recently about this gift to us.  I have blogged previously about how we can be "snatched" out of our misery, how we should pump up by living the commandments and focusing on Christ.  Today I wanted to talk about another aspect of Christ's gift to us (for truly the facets are limitless)--His ability to carry us when we can go no farther.  I often think about J.R.R Tolkein's masterpiece trilogy, The Lord of the Rings as it relates to our everyday struggles.  Now I'm not suggesting you have to bat away stray nazguls from your sedan before you go to work or fight off a horde of Uruk'hai (cat's out of the bag--I'm a geek...I do know these things) before you check out at the supermarket.  I am saying, however, that we all face perils and our roads are fraught with dangers that we often can't see.

I love the last scene in the movie The Return of the King where Frodo and Sam are trying to make it up the slope of Mt. Doom to cast the accursed ring into the pit.  At one point, Frodo is about to give up--the volcano is erupting, the burden on his soul is crushing down, and all seems lost.  He turns to Sam and expresses his disappointment and dejection at his seeming failure to accomplish his task.  Ever vigilant, a true friend to the bitter end, Samwise Gamgee looks Frodo straight in the eye, and declares, voice buckling with emotion, "I can't carry the ring, Mr. Frodo...but I can carry you!"  He musters his last ounces of strength and hoists Frodo up the mountain to the ultimate fulfillment of their quest.