How to Train Your Dragon: How to Hone Your Inner Viking

Traditions. They bind us to a way of life, that passes on from generation to generation. Yes, there are those minor traditions such as, when to open the Christmas presents, or who carves the turkey on Thanksgiving, but what about those traditions that are such a huge part of our lives that we don't even view them as traditions. 

We all come form different backgrounds, and were all raised to believe different things. What if you were raised, with the purpose of fulfilling a certain role, or continuing a lifestyle that has been with your family for generations, and generations...but you find out that all this "tradition" and style of living is completely wrong! 

This is the story of young, teenage Hiccup in the newly released movie: "How to Train Your Dragon."

Hiccup is a small stocky teenager growing up in a viking village, where he would be expected to grow up to kill, and fight off the dragons that are attacking the village.  Hiccup is much smaller than most vikings and so, both his father, and other vikings have low expectations for him and his future. 

Hiccup has a goal of shooting down the one dragon that no other viking has ever killed, or even seen. Hiccup shoots down the dragon, n the middle of the night, and nobody believes that he actually did it. 

Hiccup, investigates the location of the dragon that he shot down, and finds out that he is incapable of killing a dragon. He sees in himself that he is different that the people of his village.  He releases the dragon from the net that it was caught in, and moves forward to construct a device that allows him to fly again (with the help of Hiccups steering). Hiccup sees in this dragon, which he names Toothless, that he is a kind creature and that there is no reason to for his fellow villagers to be killing them. Hiccup is afraid to express this to the other vikings because he doesn't want them to kill this dragon that he rescued. 

This story is a story of courage and of leadership. I encourage you to watch and grasp the lessons that are to be learned. Hiccup was raised his whole life to be a tough, killing, warrior, viking. He found it in himself that he was different, that he was set apart from the entire village that he grew up in. He saw something different in these dragons, because he took the time to get to know them. He in a way became one of them. He had the courage to step up and to proclaim to the village, at the expense of losing his fathers trust, to change the traditions of what the village had been built on. 

At first he wan't accepted, but he fought through, and in the end, the village was better off, living in harmony with the dragons, than they were when they were in constant battle.

It's difficult to do the hard things. Our fears can get in the way of doing what we know is right. It gets even harder when the things we need to confront, are the things that are so close to home for us. They may be, things in our families, in or churches, and in our circle of friends. We need to look at what the Word of God says about the actions, and the attitudes that we have and see if there is a need for change. If change is necessary, then we have to act on it. Only by the strength og God will we accomplish these big, and difficult tasks, but it is possible.