Snoodles and Gords

Posted on October 21st, 2004 by Jeremy.
Categories: Personal, Religion.

A very bizarre thing happened last night. I got emotional. Now, before you get your hopes up like “Oh yeah, that bottled up mass of soon-go-homicidal Jeremy is getting in touch with his feelings”….nothing so mundane I’m afraid. No…last night some vegetables and “snoodles” were teaching me the value of self worth.

Yesterday was an up and down day. Up because I had the opportunity to have lunch with an overly exuberant and fun guy who gave me Season 3 and 4 of Stargate SG-1. I mean come on that’ll put a smile on your face. Down, because sometimes I feel like I’m a complete buffoon and lacking in any real value department.

I’m not going to sit here and get down on myself. I think some of it has to do with a missing parental unit, a angry high school experience, and being raised by a female (though I love my mama Schwarzenegger). I’m under the impression that your early life at some point can’t be blamed. It can be used to show you why you might perceive things differently but as Colonel McIntosh told me yesterday “After 23 it’s your fault”. I tend to agree.

Anyways.

Last night I was in the classroom with the kids at church, per usual. Our lesson was on self worth, starting with the book of my namesake Jeremiah.

I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart;” (1:5)

The lesson went on to discuss how if you were to draw a cat..you’d imagine that cat and then try to put that vision of a cat on paper. In the same way God knew who you were going to be before he put you on earth. He looked from the beginning of time to the end and said this..this is the time for YOU to do the most good, to be most effective.

The kids were unphased. I wasn’t…but I was holding it together better than I thought I would.

What do you do then? Watch a movie. The ole standby. And look! It’s a new Veggietales. If you haven’t seen Veggietales, let me give you a quick rundown. It’s a computer generated cartoon show that teaches some type of moral lesson (ie Forgiveness, Don’t lie, etc). But the guys that developed the show obviously have a extremely refined sense of humor. They basically give tips of that hat to Monty Python (French peas guarding the walls of Jerhico), Star Trek, and Batman. I used to watch them in college much to the amusement to those around me. And funny enough, even those not of the same religious bent as I thought they were entertaining.

Popped it into the projection and off we go. “Dr. Jiggles and Mr. Sly” was the name of the tape, a take off on Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. It seems that Dr. Jiggles was a chubby gord that really just had a dream of dancing. His alter ego Mr. Sly was a slim gord with a pink afro that comes out into the streets at midnight and dances incredibly well to the pleasure of those around him. Singing and dancing numbers ensue (disco and an almost opera number). Soon he understands that he can dance no matter who he is and Screw those that don’t like him.
The next was “silly songs with Larry” all about SUV’s..kind of mocking the absurdity of them in a city culture. Funny stuff.
And then the doozy…the story of a snoodle.
It is modeled after a Dr. Seuss type story. Non sensical rhyming schemes and strange looking plants and buildings (they did give a big tip of the hat to Dr. Seuss).
The story revolved around these gum drop like creatures that appear every Tuesday at 2. They slide down a chute from a clock tower in the middle of town and arrive with a backpack full of certain things. Well a small snoodle pops out, with him a kazoo, a paintbrush and wings. He runs around showing the other snoodles how he can fly (and falls on his face). One of the nearby snoodles laughs and puts a painting in his backpack so that he is reminded that he can’t fly.
He tries to paint a painting, which of course the other snoodles laugh at and draw another picture to show him that he can’t paint and place that in his backpack. Soon he is laden down with these paintings and just tries to find a place he can be alone. He climbs a tall mountain thinking that is where he can find rest from ridicule, but hears a voice from behind him.
He is almost scared off, but the voice ushers him inside his house and gives him some tea. He takes the pictures that others have drawn of him and exclaims!
“this isn’t who you are. This isn’t what you look like” He throws those pictures in the fire. The snoodle stands a bit taller, his pack lighter.
“Let me show you what you look like.” The voice goes away and comes back with a picture. He pulls the drape off and there is this astonishing picture of the snoodle, looking mighty, flying through the sky”
“That can’t be me, I’m small and puny”
“That’s not true.”
“How would you know?” the snoodle replied
“because I made you. I made the kazoo so that you could sing me songs about the things you see. I gave you the brush for you to paint me pictures…and I gave you those wings to soar!”
The snoodle was beaming.
“I did draw a picture of some plants, but people thought it was horrible”
“Let me see” said the creator
He took the picture “my this is wonderful! I’ll put this on my fridge” And place it there he did.
Soon the Creator had taken the new picture of the snoodle. The one depicting him as he was meant to be and put it in his backpack.
“Now go. Use those wings I gave you to soar in the sky”
The picture didn’t weigh him down, but gave him a lightness that allowed him to fly faster and stronger than the birds in the sky.
Soon the snoodle was off, flying through the air, going back to town to tell the other snoodles about the Creator and how he perceives each of them as contributions not detractions from life.

I paraphrased it..but I was just sitting there stunned. Stunned over gumdrop poems and dancing vegetables…

Psalms 139:14
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

Sometimes I’m taken aback, and laugh at ways that God might want to express his joy at who we are. In a moment, a cartoon helped me realize that my self image is not “real”. The real one is the one the creator has of me, the one that he designed me to be. That makes me smile…now if I can just dance!

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