From time to time something comes along that either captures my imagination or causes me to pause and think about things differently. When I run into these things I hold onto them to remember what I learned. It could be a work of art, an interesting object, a book, a movie, or a song. The movie Tomorrowland both captured my imagination and caused me to pause and think.
The thing that caught my attention in Tomorrowland was the story that the dad would tell his kids about the 2 wolves that live inside all of us. This is a story that has had many different versions over the years (just Google 2 wolves) but when I heard it in the movie it was the first time I had ever heard it.
Here is the movie version:
There are two wolves inside all of us and they’re always fighting.
One is darkness and despair.
The other is light and hope.
Question: Which one wins?
Answer: The one you feed.
This theme flows throughout the story. You can see in the story which wolf any character is feeding at any given time. It made the story fun to me and it helped me put myself into the heads of each character.
Within all of us we have these 2 wolves. In life we always have a choice to choose the darkness or the light… to make the right choice or the wrong choice. Far too many times I feed the bad wolf. Right now I believe the bad wolf in many ways is very strong inside of me. Over time as I feed the good wolf the bad wolf will become weaker and weaker and then as the good wolf becomes stronger it will become easier and easier to make the right choices.
Some of the things I give into is the despair over my health, money, life in general, or when I compare my life to other people whom I perceive as having it more together than me. I let it get the best of me and I slip into darkness and despair. When I make the right choices in life I feel that light and hope.
As you go throughout your day today think about the choices you make. Are there those bad habits or destructive thought patterns that you continue feed? Realize you have a choice. As you continue to feed the good wolf he will get stronger and stronger and it will make it that much easier to do what is right.
Which wolf will you feed today?
… the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.