The odd life of Erica Lewis

We were watching a movie as a family the other night and it totally had me thinking about spiritual implications. The movie was Disney's The Odd Life of Timothy Green. Here is a brief gist of the movie

An infertile couple plants their hopes for a child in the garden, and receive an unexpected gift when a young boy emerges from the soil claiming to be their son in this enchanting comedy drama from Academy Award-nominated writer/director Peter Hedges (What's Eating Gilbert Grape, Dan in Real Life). Jim (Joel Edgerton) and Cindy Green (Jennifer Garner) are struggling to accept the fact that they will never conceive a child of their own when, one night during a thunderous storm, a young boy named Timothy (CJ Adams) comes knocking at their door. In time, the prospective new parents and their curious neighbors discover that the most amazing things can happen just when you least expect it. 
~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

So, anyway the component of the movie that caught me was that little Timothy grows leaves on his legs. These leaves are unable to be removed and are a constant source of annoyance and shame in the various parts of the movie. I don't want to spoil the movie by telling you more so just know that he and his parents did not like showing the leaves as they were not normal. I started to think...what are my spiritual leaves? What are the things that I would rather just push my socks up over and hide from the world around me to look more presentable. What are the sins in my life that take over me and are shameful. Here is what I came up with. I think Timothy had around 6-8 leaves so I've listed my top 5 leaves here

1. JEALOUSY: I am jealous of almost anyone at any given time. I am jealous about people's lives like having children when I wasn't, getting married when I wasn't, vacationing when I wasn't...etc. It is embarrassing to think that I have to be all concerned about getting what I want when others are being blessed. I have so many blessings in my life and here I am..looking around. NOT OKAY. A leaf I would like to pluck right out!
2. JUDGEMENT: I am one of the most judgmental people when it comes to certain attitudes and behaviors. I have a hard time understanding ignorance, intolerance, injustice, etc... and so I sit in my "high and mighty" chair and look at THOSE people and how badly they behave and think of how much better I am. NOT OKAY!
3. SELF-IMPORTANCE: It is hard for me to believe that people aren't thinking about me all the time. Therefore, I care WAY too much what others think of me. The truth is, they are probably thinking about themselves as well. It would be ideal to shift my focus and possibly see things I could help others with.
4. WORRY/ANXIETY: It is hard to stand in faith and be strong when you are worrying about every single facet of your life from how you are going to get all of the groceries in under budget to making sure you meet every single goal of your daily agenda TODAY. I am a perfectionist and I was once told that what lies between reality and perfection is anxiety because perfection is never reached. Wise words!
5. PROCRASTINATION: I am the worst at doing things I need to do when I need to do them. This is attached to that whole perfectionistic thing. If I can't do it perfectly, I often don't want to do it at all. This includes things that are important to my survival like taking diabetic medication and treating it properly and exercise. Both of these things require consistency and are a paced thing and because I can't be perfect right out of the gate, I just keep pushing it to tomorrow. All this does is feed my 4th leaf of worry/anxiety.

These are just 5 of the things that came to me as I watched this movie. By the way, great movie. Great idea, concept, and lessons. What are your leaves? What would you love to be able to just pluck right out of your life.