I Married Batman

This past weekend we were able to enjoy what has become somewhat of an annual event....going to a newly released children's movie paid for by a fund company that my dad is associated with.  It is the most fun thing for our children to do as they get to order whatever candy they want, whatever drink they want, as well as a huge bag of popcorn.....with no "share with your sister" or "not this time, it's too expensive"....no holds barred.  They love it.

This year the movie was Batman (the Lego movie).  It has to be one of the funniest movies out there. We were laughing from the second it started.  I think the thing that makes us all laugh the most is that the Batman character kind of reminds us of someone in our house.  That's right.  I married Batman. Batman is my children's father.  The similarities are endless and, I have to say, somewhat hilarious.

Before he met me, Batman, aka RM, was prepared to live alone and never marry.  Batman, throughout the move, says, "I work alone.  I'm a team of one."  This, of course, has to change for Batman as he's obviously lonely.  RM was a team of one, too and definitely worked alone.  But, just like Superman and his Kryptonite...he had a weakness....me!  I'm so glad he decided to stop working alone!

Batman also gets really bugged by bad music.  But he loves good music!  He makes a very funny growling sound when he is angry and "full of rage".  So does RM.  We all imitate RM's growl and, in fact, we all do it, too, whenever bad music comes on now.

Batman's close friend, Alfred, asks Batman a personal question in the movie....."No, no, no, no, no, no......!!!!!!"  He hates too many questions, he hates bad questions, he hates being bugged when he's concentrating!  RM, too.  We all laughed.  If RM were to ever be compared to anything, we would all agree, he is definitely most like the Batman Lego character.

Batman had to learn some lessons in the movie about kindness and relationships.  Recently, my Batman learned a lesson in kindness and relationships, too.  Last week, RM had been feeling particularly awful.  We weren't sure if he was coming down with something or if he just had sore muscles, but he was in a lot of pain.  When he feels so badly, it impacts everything in his day, even how he listens to sermons on the radio.  It puts a bit of a dark filter on things.  One day, he had heard a story about a pastor paying for some guy's food in a fast food lineup.  It was a sermon on being kind and yes, it was a nice gesture, but it didn't impact him as a particularly moving example. RM was a little bugged as he wasn't sure the story was on kindness as much as getting out of being beat up. The pastor had paid for the man's meal because he had accidentally cut him off and the guy who he had cut off was furious!  My husband, who was feeling grumpy because of all his pain, told me about the story that morning, but wasn't convinced it was the best illustration.  Paying someone's bill because you don't want to get killed?  Bah!

Friday afternoon, the same day he had told me about the sermon illustration, he and the two youngest went on a longer errand and he promised the boys he would take them out for a little snack as it was a long drive.  In the drive-through line up, a truck quickly scooted in front of him.  No big deal.  He stayed calm, but he noticed the tailgate on the truck was open and the back of the truck was full of stuff that could easily fall out.  He was pretty sure the driver didn't know and that he would want to know.  So he got out of his car, in the line-up, and went and told the guy.  The driver seemed grateful, gruffly acknowledge him and then got out of his truck and shut the tailgate. When my husband got up to the pay window, the cashier said, "No charge.  The man in front of you paid for your bill."  So funny.  My Batman got blessed!  He was not expecting that, especially based on the gruffness of the guy.  RM's level of pain was lifted just a bit that day as someone showed him kindness. He also immediately saw the irony as he knew he had just talked about the exact same thing happening to someone else.  The very thing he had questioned had now happened to him.  And it moved him.  It was true kindness from one stranger to another.

In the movie, Batman tries to work alone, but all throughout the movie, people keep trying to show him, you can't.  We need one another. There is certainly no spiritual element to the movie, at all, but, to draw a small parallel, in life, we also try to go through life working hard, sometimes forgetting the God is there, forgetting that He cares, forgetting we need others, that relationships matter, kindness matters.  My Batman received a small message that could have easily been overlooked that day. Having his meal paid for was just a little message from God, who knew his pain levels, and who showed him that having your bill paid is an act of kindness, that God can work through people, even strangers.  We are all in this thing called life together.  His spirits, and my boys' spirits, were definitely lifted that day and he witnessed the goodness in others.  These funny little life lessons...they can come in the strangest forms...from drive through line-ups to Lego characters.  We just need to keep our eyes open so we don't miss them.