March of the Penguins

I watched this movie on the Hallmark channel a few nights ago and loved it. The film is a documentary which follows a flock of emperor penguins in the Antarctic for a year as they journey 70 miles in harsh winds and freezing cold temperatures by foot, going through the harshest conditions in the struggle to survive - all to find true "love" and to find a mate and reproduce.

There is a particularly poignant scene at the very end of the movie where, after a brutally hard winter, the baby penguins come to the ocean for the first time. Narrator, Morgan Freeman described it, saying:

It is now December and they are ready to leave the place where they were born. And although they have never known the ocean, nor touched it -- they, like their parents, are of the sea . . . and so . . . one day . . . they'll take the plunge . . . and go home for the first time.

When I heard those words, I backed up the Tivo and listened to that part three more times. I found my heart being stirred as I recognized my Father's voice in the experience of these penguins.

You and I come into a world where we often encounter harsh storms with cold winds. Like the emporor penguins, we seek out our mates, bear our children, and brave the storms of life for the sake of those we love.

Then December comes ...

One day we all will leave the place we were born. Though we have never known heaven, nor touched it, we, like our Father, are of heaven. We're all on a march through time. Along the way, there will be occasions of loss and grief, but we march onward, knowing at a level deeper than our human consciousness that one day we will take the plunge, reach our final destination . . . and for the first time . . . find ourselves at home.