Wisdom From Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets [Spoilers]

Valerian didn't get very good reviews from most popular sources, but in my typical fashion I disregarded the "pros" opinions and saw it anyway.  I wanted to see Valerian since the first trailer came out because the visuals looked so good and the story seemed funny. 

While there were a few things that Valerian did wrong they did far more things right and it's the right things that make this movie worth seeing. 

Basically Valerian had great visuals, good story, much creativity, and was an overall fun movie to watch.  I care the most about moral lessons and themes of a movie, these are what make or break movies for me so this is what I'll elaborate on.  Please note, I'm only going to mention the good stuff, there were a few negative messages in this movie that you would need to watch out for if you were planning on watching this with your children, but it's the good stuff that made this movie a win for me.

Love 

The most impressive moment in the movie was Laureline's description of love.  While she and Valerian had a rather strange relationship, she proves that she knows what real love is about when when she tries to convince Valerian to give the Converter back to the Pearls.  She explains that love requires sacrifice and trust and sometimes it breaks the rules.  

Her description reminded me of the greatest lover, Jesus Christ.

• Sacrifice - Jesus sacrifices his life so that we may have the opportunity to live with him in eternity. 
• Trust - Laureline says "I'm not asking you to die for me, I'm asking you to trust me."  This is exactly what Jesus says to us.  He suffered and died for us so that we wouldn't have to, but he does desire our trust.  After all, he wants the very best for each one of us.
• Breaking the Rules - Jesus and his Apostles where known rule breakers.  They didn't sin, but they did break rules that were excessive and unloving.  For Example: They didn't always wash their hands before meals.  They didn't observe the strict no work policy for the Sabbath, they picked and ate food and healed people.  Jesus even talked to pagan women and lepers which was not permitted.  They broke rules in the name of helping people and loving those whom society excluded.

Laureline's insistence on giving government property back to the original owners in order to help them was the right call, and the loving thing to do despite the rule that said they should not.  Man's laws should only be followed so long as the law puts the good of the person first, when it doesn't it's a law that should be broken.

Forgiveness

The second best message in the movie was that of forgiveness.  The Pearl's ability to forgive the human race for the mass genocide of their people and destruction of their planet is truly impressive.  They gained a massive amount of intelligence very quickly a were no doubt capable of creating some kind of weapon to destroy humankind, but they display true wisdom and integrity of character by choosing to forgive.  Their forgiveness is not out of weakness, but true strength of character.  In today's world, that seeks revenge and retaliation for any harm done, this was a great example of choosing a better path, a path that leads to true happiness and peace.  This something that revenge can never provide.

Many are One

The Alpha Space Station was a great example of many different people coming together to create something great.  The real message here is that when people, or in this case aliens, act in a way that they are the very best versions of themselves they can create something great together.  Many of the different aliens types were very specialized and fulfilled a specific role for the benefit of the entire space station.  This is an updated example of the unity of the Body of Christ and the gifts of the Holy Spirit as described in the Bible 1 Corinthians 12.  When each person uses the gifts they have been given well and they are not envious or worried about other people's gifts there is unity in the community.

There are bunch of other funny or cool things about Valerian that I didn't mention here.  Give it a shot it's worth seeing.

You are Important

Me & three of my friends God dropped into my life

Every person on earth is created by God.  God doesn't make mistakes.  Some people may feel like a mistake because they were born with some sort of mental, physical or even spiritual defect.  But, they are not a mistake.  Even those who appear broken have a purpose.  Those who used to be whole, but are now broken still have a purpose.  

Everyone shares a common overarching purpose, which is to learn how to love and be loved by God and we often learn this by learning to love each other.  We also have unique purposes based on our own gifts, circumstances, and people we encounter in our daily lives.  If you see someone in need, your purpose in that moment may be to help them, even if that help is simply an encouraging smile. 

If you stumbled upon this article I want to encourage you to find ways to reach out and help others.  Even if you feel like you're the one that needs the most help, you will find when you put others first you will be uplifted too.  Start with the people God has placed in your life.  The people you see every day and especially the friends you just happened to make seemingly by chance.  Your lives bumped into each other for a reason.  You may only have this person in your life for a short season before they are whisked on down the road to bump into other strangers who will be their new friends.  Do what you can for them now, make time for them.  The best gift you can give is simply your time and your presence.  That means listen to them when you're are with them, don't use your cell phone or do all the talking yourself.

One of my best friends is Christin.  God arranged everything in an amazing way for us to meet during a short window of opportunity in both our lives when we just so happened to be at the right place at the right time.  Now, my dear friend will be leaving me soon as she goes on to follow where God is leading her next.  He's chosen her to be one of the few people who is called to give their entire lives to finding and helping the lost, the broken, the sick, the dying.  Not everyone is called to this extream sacrificial life, but some are.  If you are reading this, I hope you can help Christin answer God's call by giving a bit of the treasure God has given you, to empower her to go out and help others however God wills it.  With that, I give you Christin's crowd funding site: https://www.youcaring.com/christintripi-750318  This site will be ongoing until May 2017.  Remember if you ran into this article it's more likely it was for a reason than coincidence.  Thank you & God bless you!

Descanso Gardens - Enchanted Forest Jan 2017

Descanso Gardens in La Cañada Flintridge, CA had and "Enchanted Forest" event this past Christmas season.  I visited for my birthday.  This event took place at night and featured different parts of their botanical gardens lit up with all kinds of different lights and sounds.  Some of the exhibits were interactive, such as two large "lily pad ponds" made up of large plastic circles that changed colors when you stepped on them.   

I'm not going to explain everything, just take a look at these pictures and know it was all much more impressive in real life!