Powerful Gospel Lessons From... Disney?

This is a post in response to my friend Jenna Berkey's last blog post. She related how she was able to better learn aspects about the gospel through Hercules. Reading this reminded me of a spiritual moment that I had about 8 years ago, when I was new in seminary. I used this clip as a part of one of my devotionals at the beginning of class:

Do I think that we can learn gospel lessons through Disney, or other secular media? Absolutely. I love this example of the Lion King.  I think that a huge part of our conversion process is the realization that Heavenly Father exists, and that we are literally His children. That knowledge has influenced everything about my life, and I believe that everything good that I have in my life comes from that source. There is power in knowing WHO WE ARE, because if we know that, we have a greater capacity to recognize the great potential that we have, and we can work towards it! I think of Simba at the beginning of the clip--directionless. But by being reminded of who he really was, he re-discovered his purpose, and went on to do amazing things. 

And you know what? We have amazing things to do as well.