When the mind is ready to expand to a new level, everything that stands in the way of that expansion gets pushed to the surface. Remembering our true identity involves vigilance against the temptation to project attack thoughts, be a victim, or hold grievances. In this movie, Jackie Robinson is a living example of what it takes to break through barriers in the mind and to shine in magnitude. Jackie’s purpose was so beyond a small personal life that his demonstration of determination and defenselessness affected an entire nation. When we say yes to our calling, it is for the Whole. Jackie chooses to say yes to being the first black baseball player in a league of 399 whites, while at the same time staying firm to his commitment not to fight back in the face of racist provocation.

 

Until we are willing to look at the full extent of our own self-hatred, we are not willing to let it go and remember our true identity in Christ. As we get nearer to the light, the ego goes from suspicious to vicious; it feels the threat of annihilation—anger and rage surface for release.

 

Jackie must come face-to-face with the witnesses to his own self-hatred. In a powerful scene when he is up to bat, he hears unrelenting racial abuse from the opposing coach. There is great temptation in those heated moments to project the problem “out there” to another person, to return the angry words, or to shrink away and give up. In those excruciating moments at bat, Jackie feels the fury surfacing and allows himself to step away from the game to let his feelings up in safety, remembering his higher purpose.

 

Uncomfortable feelings are a cover over what we are really afraid of: the remembrance of our intense and burning love for God and His for us. In this movie we see the witnesses of hate turn to witnesses of love as Jackie stays vigilant against the ego. Nothing is impossible with God!