A Lesson from a Llama..

 


Did you ever see the movie, An Emperor’s New Groove?  (If not, I highly suggest a viewing as I think it is one of the most underrated Disney movies of all times…)

The movie features a spoiled self-absorbed king (named Kuzco) who is seeking a place to build a waterpark as a present to himself for his 18th birthday.  He covets a piece of land that is owned by a llama farmer named Pacha, and so he calls Pacha to the palace and demands that he move and give Kuzco the land for the project. 

Meanwhile, after Kuzco fires his chief assistant, Yzma, she decides to poison Kuzco and claim the throne for herself.  However, her bumbling assistant mixes up the potions, and instead of killing Kuzco, turns him into a llama.

At first, Kuzco sees himself as the victim.  He fails to recognize that he himself had previously victimized many.  I suppose like so many of us, he is the hero in his own story… 

But when Kuzco ends up at Pacha’s house, and demands to be taken back to the palace, kind-hearted Pacha whose father often told him “there is good in everyone,” offers to help. 

However, upon overhearing that Yzma and her assistant had tried to kill Kuzco, Pacha tells him the news.  Kuzco is suspicious and accusatory, and insists that Pacha has been lying to him.  He then declares that he will do the rest of the journey alone. 

But while he is alone, Kuzco comes to realize that everything is NOT just about him, and that doing life alone is lonely and sad.  He recognizes the error of his ways, and lets go of pride, and instead embraces humility.

Phillippians 2:3-4 says, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit.  Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interest of others.”

In this light, The Emperor’s New Groove becomes a powerful parable about the way we see the world we live in, the compassion we have for others, and the recognition that we can’t make it on our own.

In my life, God is my Pacha.  He is the one who is willing to “go the distance” with me, even when I am selfish, even when I am demanding, and even when I am rebellious and hoping to do things “on my own”.  And just like Kuzco, if finally let go of my stubborn selfish nature, and let God help me, He will lead me HOME.

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