This right here, is a beautiful picture of friendship. Yeah, it's from a movie. I happen to love this movie, but that has little to do with what I want to write about. But it does serve as an excellent illustration.
Hiccup and Toothless demonstrate important principles of friendship in this special scene. It makes me almost tear up every time I watch it, because it is so profound. There is so much trust between these two, who were once enemies. As they grow closer, Hiccup wants to touch Toothless. He knows this is a sign of trust, and he repeatedly reaches out to the dragon to demonstrate his trust for the fire-breathing beast. But Toothless has been hurt, and repeatedly pulls away, often shaking his head as he retreats, with a look saying quite clearly, "what are you doing?! He hurt me before... he can't be trusted."
But Hiccup is persistent. He is not pushy, but patient, gentle and understanding. He continues to spend time with Toothless, getting to know him, showing him love and understanding. Toothless's wall slowly comes down, and more and more of his personality comes through, drawing the two closer together, until this moment happens.
At first, Hiccup reaches out for Toothless, as usual, and the dragon pulls back slightly, warning Hiccup. This is when he realizes that he needs to let Toothless be the one to reach out. He turns his head and closes his eyes, saying without words, "I'm here if you want me. I trust you, and I hope you are ready to trust me." Toothless could bite off Hiccup's hand. He could also simply run away again. But I think this demonstration of trust actually surprises the dragon a little. He slowly moves toward Hiccup and places his nose into the boy's hand.
Despite the fact that Toothless pulls away and retreats again after Hiccup's eyes catch his once more, this is a turning point in their friendship. If they were going to have a relationship, there had to be trust. There had to be a crossroads--move forward separately, or together. I'm glad they chose to trust. They had so many reasons not to.
Even more deep, I think our relationship with God can be illustrated here. I believe in a God I cannot see, even though I believe there is evidence for Him around everywhere, every day. In a way, we are like Hiccup in reaching our hand blindly to Him and trusting Him to take care of us, not to harm us, to be our friend (although He is also a God to be feared and revered; a fitting analogy with a fire-breathing dragon with a mouth full of teeth). Sometimes we choose to trust, not knowing what is going to happen. If we didn't..... there wouldn't be friendships. People wouldn't trust each other, help each other. The world would be even more full of suspicion, doubt, and hopelessness than it already is.
Friendships, and any relationship for that matter, are about taking a chance. I've been hurt by many people I've called friends. Sometimes, those relationships break. But I believe God means for them to be healed in most cases. He is a God of relationship and created us for that. He doesn't like broken relationships (that's why He sent Jesus to fix our relationship with Him!). We're sinful people. We're going to hurt each other. If we live in fear of being hurt, we're just going to be alone, and even more hurt. I choose to accept that people I care about are going to hurt me, that I'm going to hurt them. I also choose to do my best to own up to my mistakes, apologize when I hurt someone, and do my best to mend broken relationships. I choose to trust people who have hurt me, and who I know have better intentions than it may seem, and to forgive and move forward. I choose to not let fear rule me, but to let God's love guide me and my heart and change the way I treat other people more and more.
"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility, consider others as better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interest of others."
-Philippians 2:3-4
Putting others first is a risk. It means I may not get what I want. It means I may get hurt. But it's what God commands, and I know it makes me happy when I do it, even if it is sometimes uncomfortable. I want to live by this command more and more.
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