Beaver Robots or Unending Hope
Recently, I was watching the movie Hoppers with my family. Hoppers is a new Pixar movie that is focused on humans and animals working together to take care of the world, and scientists have invented a way for humans to put their consciousness into a beaver robot so that they can communicate with animals. In this movie, one girl seems to care far more about protecting a pond from city developers than anyone else in her life seems to care. She protests, and she eventually goes into a beaver robot to try to save her pond. At one point, she hits a breaking point. She’s tried everything she can think of and it only seems to make things worse. In a groan and a sob, she yells: “I can’t stand feeling this way, like everything is broken, and I can’t fix it. I just make everything worse. I am so tired of having to do this alone.”
This line stood out to me and stopped my brain for a few minutes. There are times that I feel this so deeply. Everything’s broken and I can’t fix it. I’m sure we all have days like this. Times when we read the news, only to feel disheartened and frustrated by what we see. Days when it feels like no matter what we do, it doesn’t make a difference and the world is just getting worse. Now bear with me a second; I promise this won’t end as depressing as it is about to seem. We can’t fix it. Everything is broken, but that isn’t where the story ends.
In the morning, I have been reading the Old Testament; the time of the kings in Judah and Israel where sadness and brokenness were the norm. Just like now, the world was broken and horrible. Then enters Isaiah. He acknowledges the world’s brokenness and sadness, but instead of saying “I CAN’T FIX IT!” and growing dismayed, he points to the healing of the world. It’s the same hope that we can still lean on.
Isaiah 11:2-9
“The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him (He’s referring to Jesus) — the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord — and he will delight in the fear of the Lord. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips, he will slay the wicked. Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist. The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion, and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the cobra’s den, and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.”
It’s the gospel part that Pixar missed. It’s the fact that we as humans cannot rely on leaders, politicians, or even pastors to fix all that is broken in our world. We can’t fix it, but the thing is: we aren’t alone. We have Jesus. Jesus came and He is going to come again. We can hit our breaking point and then lean on Him. Our hope is so much grander than anything this world can imagine. We have an eternal hope, that is, of the new world not being broken. So, next time you are feeling alone and desperate, look to the hope that we have. It’s not in anything on earth, but it is real - and way less far-fetched than human consciousness in beaver robots. It’s Jesus.
Submitted by Erica Stricklen, a Children’s Pastor in Seymour, Tennessee and graduate of Bethel Seminary Master of Arts in Children’s, Youth, and Family Ministry.