Hakuna Matata?
‘What matters now is what they do after the honeymoon.’
Amidst frenzied excitement and cheering crowds, the BBC reporter, Huw Edwards said that Harry and Meghan need to get to work. He pointed out that they need to act, to continue to use the union for good, to increase the impact of all their charity links (basically to change the world). At that moment, his comment went down like a lead balloon! On the day of the Royal Wedding, those of us who like the pomp and ceremony were all reveling in the clothes, the details, the star-spotting. It seemed out-of-place for the reporter to be so serious and set such high expectations on the couple before they’d even partied with their guests.
Yet that weighty comment is the one that stuck with me. There’s something about the warmth, the new traditions, the dynamism of the charity workers, and the personalities of the actors and celebrities who attended, that made me excited about the good that can come from this marriage. What matters after a special celebration is what we do with the gifts we’ve been given. What matters when we’ve been given a leadership position is how we lead. What matters when we’ve been blessed with friends is how we serve them.
Well, back to normal life, on Sunday we wound up the VCR and got out that oh-so-novel item, the VHS tape. The youngest chose The Lion King. You may remember that Simba runs away, thinking he is responsible for his father’s death and fails to step up to his new position as king. The scene below, when Nala pleads with Simba to return and take his rightful place, made me think again about the responsibilities we all have. We may not be royalty, but we each have a job to do.
After the initial excitement in rediscovering her old friend, Nala begins to question Simba as to why he’s not at Pride Rock, fixing the disasters. I love the ways she makes him see reality and nudges him to snap out of his ‘Hakuna Matata (no worries)’ escapism.
Are there any roles you’ve been sidelining recently? How are you doing in connecting with your friends? I fall too easily into the Pumba and Timon camp – wanting an easy life. So I’m telling myself: Yes to rest, but no to laziness!
Nala and Simba go on to be a great power couple (in fact, I’d say Amal Clooney was wearing ‘Simba Yellow’ not ‘Colman’s Mustard’ when she entered as one half of another famous power couple on Saturday). Thankfully, Simba stops procrastinating and DOES something. However the new Duke and Duchess of Sussex live out their lives, I’m optimistic they’ll be active and take on some of the fire that Bishop Michael Curry preached about. What can be more dynamic than fire, and more life-changing than love?
