Akeelah and the Bee

We just saw the most amazingly wonderful movie. It was authentic and inspiring. It was about a little girl from South Los Angeles who has a shot at the National Spelling Bee. The little actress who plays Akeelah takes you to Akeelah's world. I won't spoil the movie for you since it was just released today. It was the perfect movie for our children....we love words and use them to keep us occupied when we are waiting and not feeling very patient. We play a game....you name a double consonant beginning to a word...tonight it was gr...and then we think of all the words that we can think of that start with those two letters...it was tough at first but then we started cranking them out. I know it sounds nerdy but we love it. So hearing all those words that we don't know was so much fun.
Last year when I was on my way to Colorado via DFW I stalled leaving my house because the National Spelling Bee had captured me. There were three finalists and one of them was a girl. I pulled my daughter, Mary Kate, into my room and we watched the final section of the competition and of course, we were cheering for the girl. She didn't win but we were impressed. I drove to DFW and parked my car in Express parking and ran to catch my plane....but when I arrived I realized that they were all delayed because of weather. So I sat down to read but couldn't focus and ended up just people-watching. And then I saw her....the Spelling Bee girl! She was flying home to California. I just had to talk with her. I walked up and said to her,"You are amazing!" She just beamed and knew exactly why I had called her amazing. I told her how she had mesmerized me and she giggled and we talked and her parents were delightful and her sister was just as excited to meet me. The girls gave me their email addresses and we exchanged emails a couple of times.
Now, again, you need to go see Akeelah and the Bee. I cried through most of it (okay, those who know me, know that I cry all the time...not necessarily sad tears...just for just about any emotion). And to top off the reasons why I loved this movie, they used a piece of poetry that has been life-changing for me.

Our deepest fear
is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear
is that we are powerful beyond measure.

It is our light, not our darkness,
that frightens us.

We ask ourselves, who am I to be
brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?

You are a child of God.
(Your playing small doesn't serve the world.
There's nothing enlightened about shrinking
so that other people won't feel insecure
around you.)

We were born to make manifest
the glory of God that is within us.
It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine,
we unconsciously give other people
permission to do the same.

As we are liberated from our own fears,
our presence automatically liberates others.

by Marianne Williamson

I told my story to my class at church this summer and I used this to end. How are you shrinking?