There's a new celebrity in our house, and her name is Judy Hopps.
She’s a police officer with the ZPD in the heart of Zootopia. and she. is. fierce.
Yes, yes, she’s fictional. A bunny from a kids movie. But honestly? The kids love her and I (Taren) do too.
My daughter is hooked on her courage, on the way she steps into big, scary situations and keeps going. But more than that, I think she’s drawn to something deeper: Judy’s determination to be herself in a world that keeps telling her she’s not enough.
Because she’s a bunny.
And in a world of animals, bunnies are… insignificant. At least, that’s what everyone tells her.
But Judy doesn’t accept that narrative. She shows up every single day with a quiet, unshakeable belief in who she is. Her value, her purpose, her right to be there.
Goals, right?
And maybe that’s why I can’t look away either. Because she might be fictional, but the struggle isn’t, showing up as your true self, knowing your value and actually believing it. Thats hard.
It makes me think of Paul’s words in Galatians 5:1 that “Christ has set us free to live a free life”.
If I’m honest, “freedom” has always felt a bit… abstract. Something nice in theory, but harder to apply to real life. But then I watch Judy Hopps, and I start to wonder… what if the freedom Jesus offers isn’t distant or metaphorical?
What if it looks like this: the freedom to live unashamedly as who He created us to be.
The freedom to step out from under the weight of “not enough.”
The freedom to stop striving for the acceptance we’ve already been given.
Maybe the real shackles aren’t out there, they’re actually the quiet beliefs we carry:
I’m not good enough.
I don’t belong.
I have to prove myself.
Jesus speaks directly into that.
Not with “try harder” or “be more” but with an invitation: “Come to me… and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” (Mat 11:28-30 )
Not more pressure.
Not more proving.
Not more pretending.
Just freedom.
Because where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom (2 Cor 3:17).
Not freedom to become someone else, but freedom to step into who you were always created to be.
Freedom not just to be better-
But to be fully, confidently, unapologetically His.
Because in Him, you’re not becoming someone else.
You’re finally free to be who you were made to be.