(Photo by Selma Komisky)

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Life Lessons from Bambi

By Bonny

Walt Disney’s animated film, Bambi, was made when I was just a baby. I don’t remember seeing it as a child, but I loved reading the story book.

Many years later, when raising our own children, my husband and I enjoyed taking them to see the latest Disney film in our local theater. I was especially excited whenever one of the old classic animated films was re-released….such as Bambi! There is nothing quite like the experience of viewing one of these wonderful old movies on the big screen with a few hundred children and their families! Our boys loved watching Bambi grow from a wobbling newborn to a fully grown deer with a family of his own.

Watching Bambi lose his mother to a hunter’s bullet was shocking and traumatic for them; but they also got to see how Bambi’s father came to get him so he wasn’t alone. Bambi was also comforted by the presence of his friends who grieved with him. As time passed, and Bambi and his forest friends grew up, we see that life really does go on, even after terrible things happen. We can still find joy in life.

In another frightening scene, a forest fire is raging across the landscape. The forest animals are running for their lives, while flames are surrounding them in seemingly all directions!  Eventually, many of them reach safer ground.  Including Bambi, his father, and Faline, who becomes Bambi’s mate.

At the end of the movie, Bambi and Faline become the parents of twins. Their friends in the forest; Thumper, a pink nosed rabbit; and Flower, a skunk; have each found love and are raising their own families. Yes, indeed there is life after trauma and hardship. Life goes on!  And we will experience the good things in life, as well as the bad.

In the Bible, John 16:33, Jesus told His disciples, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart, I have overcome the world.”  There will always be difficult situations to face in this life. Even trauma, poverty,  illness, and grief. No one is exempt from trials and pain. But we do have this hope, in Jesus Christ, that He will indeed be with us through it all. He will give us His strength and His power, because He knows we cannot bear it alone. We were never meant to. There is an old saying that keeps going around, pretending to be scriptural: “God will never give us more than we can bear.” God never said that or anything like it. He said we will indeed experience terrible things in this life. The only way we can bear them is by asking for Him to give us HIS STRENGTH. For Him to carry us when we can no longer walk through the trials and the horrible pain and grief. He promised us His peace. A peace that the world just does not understand.