As I have well-documented, Brody is obsessed with Toy Story. We discovered that there are some Toy Story short films available now, beyond the full-length movies, and one of them is Toy Story That Time Forgot. It mainly focuses on Trixie and Rex, the two dinosaur toys, and is set in a dinosaur playscape, a Christmas present that belongs to a friend of their current owner, Bonnie. They’ve come for a playdate at this friend’s house, and a little angel-kitty Christmas ornament that Bonnie had been using as her “Kittysaurus” has also been put in her backpack with her other toys.

The little angel kitty is a fount of wisdom, as it happens, spouting bits of truth throughout the show, like “Be thankful for your gifts; they are all around you,” and “The joy that you give to others is the joy that comes back to you.” However, this last time that we watched it, I caught one that, for whatever reason, I had completely missed before.

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“Limitations are the shackles we bind to ourselves.”

Profound, isn’t it?

I think we often view a limitation as something placed on us that was either put there by someone else, or is completely out of our control. Take an accident victim, for instance. Maybe they’ve become paralyzed, and have physical limitations. Or maybe a person has been passed over for a promotion at work and there are limitations on how far they can go in the company.

But, in contrast, I give you Joni Eareckson Tada. Following a skiing accident when she was 17, she was left a wheelchair-bound quadriplegic. After 2 years of intense rehabilitation, she taught herself to paint with a brush held in her teeth, and now, in her 60’s, not only is her art highly collectible, but she is also an author, radio host, and founder of an international disability center that “accelerates Christian ministry in the disability community.”

And that person stuck in a deadend job? Well, I have a good friend who, after being passed over again and again, left that position and started her own company, doing what she loves and making almost twice the income.

While there may be real limitations in our lives, it’s our approach to them that gives them power to become shackles, and we, my friends, are the ones who hold the keys. Consider what’s holding you back today and pray about it. Then let those shackles fall, because you and God together? Well, you’re like the imagination of a child who uses an angel-kitty ornament as a dinosaur.

Limitless.

Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” ~ Matthew 19:26 NIV