As I was watching the movie, Pinocchio with my son the other day, I realized how realistic a story it is! Carved out of a piece of wood, life is sprinkled on the puppet turning him into a boy; bribed to lead a good life and be a 'good boy' for a promise to be turned into a human who would be the real son in flesh to his dad, his creator, the puppet maker. Though Jiminy Cricket continuously protects and teaches Pinocchio about good and bad, Pinocchio gets himself into many troubles doing what is not right and, faces its consequence equally. His mischief not only gets him into troubles but also affects those who care for Pinocchio. How different is our story? Made of soil, God breathed life into us, telling us to be good so that we would be his beloved children of whom he shall be proud of till eternity. God never doubted his creation. He trusted that our free will be used for nothing but good. However, disobedience bought in us the knowledge of good and evil making us lead a life that you and I live today.
We too like Pinocchio have a Jiminy cricket with us. Not a visible one of course, but an invisible one within, who is always guiding us, telling us to keep away from evil. Our conscience, as tiny as the cricket is always protecting us, showing us what is good. But the Pinocchio in us, though innocent, shuts that tiny voice of conscience. How many a times have you found or, felt the Jiminy cricket sit on your shoulder? How many times have you seen your Jiminy cricket sit on your long nose and tell you, "I told you not to do so. Now face the consequences"? There are time during the course, when the cricket isn't resting on your shoulder but racing to reach you; to stop you from doing the thing you are doing. You know you have to wait for it. Give it time to reach you but, the impatient you ends up doing the wrong. The conscience has yet not given up on you. It teaches you to correct your mistakes but ashamed as you are to change your ways, you continue doing the wrong. You continue doing the wrong, creating more and more distance between the conscience and you that, you leave your conscience far behind. Happy as you are for the brief moment of freedom, it soon turns scary once you realize the conscience in no where is sight. You begin to worry. "What if the conscience has abandoned me"? Alone to deal with your wrong doing, you find your self like Pinocchio, growing ears and a tail like a donkey. Not only that, you realize, in order to save you, your loved one is lying in the tummy of a whale.
The question here now is, are you really a Pinocchio from inside. Mischievous yet, innocent like a child? Do you make a promise to yourself, to lead the life you were asked to lead? Changing yourself from a live, donkey eared, tail bearing puppet to a real human who rescues his father from the whales tummy?
Our creator was supposed to be proud of us. He gave us free will and send his Spirit to lead us. The Spirit who differentiates for us the good from the bad, making us the real child in flesh whom the creator is proud and happy off. Are you making your creator happy? Are your actions making your creator proud?
It's never too late to hear the voice. The voice is never too far away that you can not take a few steps back and wait for it. Allow your Jiminy Cricket and Pinocchio to live with each other and become the life you were promised.
