The Movie Elf has established itself as a modern Christmas classic movie. It shows the innocent antics of a human baby who grows up in the elf-dominated world of the North Pole. Buddy the Elf is totally oblivious to the fact that he is five times the size of the average elf.
He later finds himself in transported to New York City, the body of a full-grown man but with the child-like wonder of an Elf. He is oblivious to the fact that the modern world doesn’t embrace the wonders of Santa.
The movie a perfect fish-out-of-water story on two levels. Buddy doesn’t fit in anywhere.
He loves spagettie for breakfast, with pop tarts and syrup.
“I’m singing. I’m in a store and I’m singing. I’m in a store and I’m singing”
And then when the store manager announces that Santa is coming to the store.
His exhuberance, innocent and passion are infectious.
The World Needs Dreamers
Buddy is an innocent dreamer.
My friend Dr. Gary Davis loves the dreamer. He is not afraid to take risks, to do different things, to leap into the great unknown.
He believes in living dangerously.
He asks, “What if there were no dreamers? What if we only had doers, implementers, builders, and technicians?”
Someone must cast the vision. Someone must push the boundaries. Someone must see the impossible and shake a fist at it.
Gary says, “To dream is to see beyond your present situation and to guess at what might be the next thing.” He’s the kind of guy that looks at Sticky-notes, Velcro, Styrofoam, and wonders about the genius behind them.
“We need people who imagine, who think outside the box, whose perspective is so radically divergent from ours that it is hard for us to grasp. So, to the world of the pragmatists and the cautious I say, dream a little more. You have no idea what you might light upon.”
I think if you dream you shouldn’t be afraid to go big. Think of all the walls that were built – or torn down because someone had a huge vision. That’s how we built nations, erected towering buildings, and started life-changing businesses. Someone didn’t think small and ease into these things. They went big. They went bold.
What holds us back? Usually ,its what others think of us.
What we can learn from Buddy
I’ve found that when you ignore everyone else it gives you a chance to listen to your heart. It gives you the opportunity to hear the voice of God that often speaks through your very mind in the stillness of the night.
The book of Psalms starts out just like this in chapter 1, verse 1.
“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers.”
These scoffers are the people who say it can’t be done.
These are the people who cross their arms in disapproval.
These are the people like the store manager in Elf that says, “There’s no singing at the North Pole.”
Me? I want to say Yes to innocence.
I want to say Yes to discovery.
I want to say Yes to wonder.
Listen to the Living a Life of Yes Podcast here:
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