Remember Who You Are

In The Lion King, young Simba flees his home after his uncle Scar convinces him he caused his father Mufasa's death. For years, Simba lives in exile — hiding his true identity beneath a carefree, purposeless existence with Timon and Pumbaa. He has forgotten who he is, and that forgetting is slowly killing him.

Then comes the pivotal scene. Standing beneath a sky full of stars, Simba sees a vision of Mufasa in the clouds. His father's voice rolls out with both sorrow and love: "You have forgotten who you are, and so forgotten me. You are more than what you have become. Remember who you are."

Those words shatter something in Simba — and they should shatter something in us too.

So many of us are living in exile from our true identity. We've accepted the accusations of an enemy, or the wounds of our past, or the labels this world has pressed onto us — and we've wandered far from who we truly are. We perform. We hide. We drift.