So my latest podcast got me thinking about the movie Beauty and the Beast.
I had a chance to interview the Academy Award winning animator, Glen Keane and we discussed his work in creating and animating the Beast for Disney’s Oscar nominated film Beauty and the Beast.
If you missed it, stop everything you’re doing and listen to it here
But thinking about the Beast it reminded me how his disposition can often be ours. Now we’d never say that, but others might!
You might assume that if you are considered “The Beast” it’s because you are mean and loud… but it’s deeper than that.
So, here are 3 reasons why others might think you are more like the Beast than the beauty you assume you are being.
You can’t get beyond your past.
The Beast was who he was because of his mistakes from the past. His past literally ruined his future… and his present. For many of us the career path we didn’t choose, or the divorce we went through or the parents we didn’t have are all impacting our present. They become a self-fulfilling prophecy for us to become angry bitter and alone.
You refuse to give your heart away.
The Beast was content to stay locked up in his castle and never even try to love. This was the reason he was in this predicament. Choosing to give our heart away means we take a risk. You choose to love and care for someone else knowing that
they could walk away on you. They could reject you.
You think you are unlovable.
The Beast was alone and angry because he assumed no one would or could ever love him. And he was almost right. The same can be true for us. Due to our present and past, we may just assume that no one could ever love us. But isn’t it true that the people we are often most drawn to are those with deep-seated joy and contentment? Beauty is more than skin deep. It’s knowing that we are loved by God and bought with a price.
This is what actually saved the creator of the Beast. Animator Glen Keane tells of how he was an angry young man until he discovered the love of Jesus. (Add another link to the podcast) In fact, he saw a great deal of himself BC (before Christ) in the character of the Beast. So while animating the transformation of the Beast, he put a copy of 2 Cor 5:17 up on his drawing table:
“If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone, the new is here.”
That was possible for Glen. And I know that is possible for you.