I’ve never been a Donkey Kong fan, opting instead for those green plastic guys known as Army Men. But I am a fan of one dad who customized Donkey Kong for his toddler:
Mike Mika’s 3 1/2 -year-old daughter Ellis loves playing “Donkey Kong.” She’s been playing it with her dad since she was 2 years old. But last week she decided she wanted to play the game a little bit differently. She wanted to play as Pauline … and she wanted Pauline to rescue Mario.
Mike designs games for a living, so he decided to redesign Donkey Kong. Instead of Mario saving Pauline, Pauline now saves Mario. Ellis gets to role play, and she gets to do it in the role of a girl saving the day.
Saving the Day
It’s a game kids play all the time. I know I did. I wanted to be a hero. Sometimes I’d get caught up in the fantasy of being stronger, faster, and just plain better at things than anyone else. Other times I’d think that if there were only a way for me to rescue someone, then I’d be famous, popular even.
At what age did I outgrow this? Still waiting.
We do have an hero, though, one who literally has come to save the world. (John 3:17.) He did it when we were helpless to save ourselves. (Romans 5:8.) And he did it by giving everything he had for us. (Mark 10:45.) In the battle for creation, salvation and all that is holy, Jesus won. (Revelation 19.)
So on second thought, I think I’d rather be the one rescued.
Jesus has already saved the day.
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Questions to ponder: Do you try to be the rescuer? When is that most likely to happen?
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I try to “rescue” my daughters from the frustration of failing and/or not knowing how to do something perfectly. Both tend toward perfectionism, and both are prone to giving up easily when things don’t come easily. Sometimes, it’s really difficult for me to put up with the fussing they make during the learning process, but then I think of certain young adults who never learned how to deal with failure, never learned how to do household tasks (laundry, cleaning, etc.), and never heard “no” in their lives. Those adults inspire me to keep teaching my kids not only how to do things, but also how to fail, get back up, and try again. (And maybe learning how to deal with my kids’ fussing during the learning process is God’s way of teaching me, too. š )
There is plenty of learning all around when it comes to parenting, that’s for sure. The effort to let them try and fail and try more is hard!
Totally agree! It would be sooooo much easier to rescue them from all their mistakes. But if I did that–oh, I wouldn’t want to deal with them later in life!
Simply put – awesome.
-Ok, add well done!
Thanks, Pastor Bob! I appreciate the encouragement.
I wanted to be Wonder Woman. I spun around and around until I fell down over and over. I’m still trying to be Wonder Woman almost 40 years later, just without the skimpy costume and super powers.
I want her invisible plane. Then again maybe not. I mean, how on earth do you use the restroom on an invisible plane?
It is a good feeling to be the hero. I got to do that once for my college student age son this summer. It felt good. But I also know with my kids and others that sometimes we human heroes can get in the way of the real Hero. Sometimes God has a great plan but we jeopardize it by swooping in when we should have watched and seen Him work.
Yes! There’s a difference between working in the power of the Spirit and getting in God’s way.
Where to start (and be brief-)
Certain “roles” have fallen to us over time, yet as important as these roles are, there are exceptions.
If the hero has done his job right, others wil learn and be heros to others. “He” can now surrender this title to “her.” I posted earlier a video where I trained young ladies to do a typical male oriented job, and the reward is the families still think highly of me (oh, the ladies won hands down, more than once!).
– Shall we rock the roles? Some things should not change, but that which should change needs to, and in His timing it is possible!
=Lord grant me the courage to change the things that need to be changed,
=Lord grant me the peace to accept the things that re not to be changed,
=Lord, above all, grant me the wisdom to know the difference.
Thanks for reminding us all of who the the real hero is!
Even more than what parents can do for their children, God grows us to be the people he wants us to be. That’s when we find he has given us true power,
Yes, I’m still waiting to grow out of my want to be a hero thoughts as well. To be honest though I think the problem is I have a skewed notion of what a hero looks like.
As a default I think a hero is like the superhero or lead role in an action movie. You save the world/country/town and maybe even a romantic interest and ride off into the sunset when it is all done. I wonder though if that is a complete picture of heroism. Jesus isn’t a hero simply because he saved me and rode off into the sunset. He is with us, even until the end of the age. It is that kind of everyday existence that is part of being a hero. Being able to actively take a part in the spectacular acts of valor, but also in the everyday acts of virtue. Although perhaps I’m overthinking a bit.
Your thoughts bring heroism right where I think it’s found too, Jeremy. The everyday, day after day acts of kindness and encouragement and comfort and standing up for – and with – others is where real heroism is found.
This may be slightly off-topic, and I’m not talking about that very normal desire that you refer to, to do something special and memorable — but I see on social media how many people have their heroes, their factions, etc. Well-known people get tons of fans and that can feed into an unhealthy ego. I was observing a controversy on Twitter this week in which someone (rightly) called out someone for being a bully — and the other person blew him off by calling him an “unknown pastor from [wherever].” To me that was such a blatant sign of someone NOT having a Christ-like character: the idea that “You’re a nobody that nobody’s ever heard of; your opinion doesn’t count.” Jesus, our hero, was the ultimate “nobody”! We take on His heroic character by being humble peacemakers.
When Jesus said the last shall be first and the first last, I think a lot of people put their fingers in their ears and said “Na-na-na, I can’t hear you.” It’s still happening, and we see it whenever someone tells another person they are too small to take notice of.
I appreciate that you point to Jesus as our ultimate hero. It is easy to slip into the “hero” mentality as a teacher and parent. However, I had an interesting conversation with one of my children recently about leadership and he said something that is helping me overcome the desire to rescue. He said the best leaders are those that don’t get recognized. They fade into the background because their goal is to help those they are leading to stand on their own, they are not interested in drawing attention to themselves. It has really helped me as a teacher to keep that in mind. I want my students as well as my children, to learn to depend on Jesus, not me. He really is the only one that can help or rescue them.
That is some great wisdom you received form that child.