Lessons from Moana: "But This Does Not Define You"

When I saw Moana in the theater, I sat down front and was covered in salt water by the end of the movie. I blamed my condition on the beautifully animated ocean, but I was actually drowning in my own tears. The movie was sad and joyous and inspiring, and my eyeballs could not handle it. But my brain could! Here is my favorite lesson that I learned from Moana:

Bad things do not define you.

The whole concept of defining a person has interested me for a long time. I pay attention to how people identify themselves. I listen for the words, "I am." I am Bob, or I am tired, or I am the Avatar. Often, in a story, a character will identify themselves in several different ways before the end. Moana, in particular, learns her identity over the course of the movie (as a Disney protagonist should) and then something interesting happens. She discovers the true identity of someone else.

There be soft spoilers in this territory.

Moana sees beyond the scary exterior of an antagonist and sings a chilling song as she realizes what is going on. Speaking of the villain's monstrous appearance, she sings, "But this does not define you. This is not who you are."

The gospel has a similar message. It teaches us that we are eternal beings who lived before this existence and who will live after it. We came from Divinity and we will return to Divinity. But sometimes it is hard to remember that. We lose sight of our true identity and make mistakes. We may even be viewed as monsters. Villains. Bad guys. Sometimes bad things happen to us even when we're doing good things, and they distract us from our potential and our goal. We become antagonists to ourselves. When that happens, we could learn from Moana: This is not who you are. Bad things do not define us.

Instead, how are we defined? Another song provides the answer: I am a Child of God.

So, why don't bad things define us? Whether we are guilty or innocent, don't bad things change us, twist us, transform us? They may alter our perception or our temporary circumstances, but nothing can change our core definition as children of God, as recipients of heavenly and powerful and divine love. Like with physical DNA, our spiritual DNA cannot be undone. Our parentage cannot be reversed. What can be reversed are our mistakes and distractions, the deviance from course. Because of Christ, we can shed our monstrous disguises and become who we were designed to become. He is the source of our hope and the reason we can say, "This does not define me."