#animation with meaning

[thesweetselah]

Lessons from Wander: Loving Without Limits

A part of the “Lessons from [Character Name]” series on TheSweetSelah blog.

Hi friends 💛

Welcome back to TheSweetSelah, where we look for God’s truth in animated stories that inspire and uplift. This post is part of my series called “Lessons from [Character Name]”, where I highlight faith-filled takeaways from some of animation’s most impactful characters.

Today, we’re learning from a character who radiates joy, forgiveness, and unshakable hope: Wander from Wander Over Yonder.

Wander isn’t your typical hero. He doesn’t fight with fists or powers he changes hearts with kindness. He sees the best in people, believes even the worst villains can change, and never gives up on bringing peace, even when it’s easier to walk away.

📖 “But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” – Matthew 5:44

Wander lives this verse. He loves boldly, not passively. His compassion isn’t weak, it’s courageous. And we see this clearly in many episodes:

Episode: “The Hero” (Season 1, Ep. 9a)

Wander goes out of his way to let Sir Brad Starlight (an arrogant wannabe hero) take the credit for saving a town, even though Wander did the work. He doesn’t care about recognition—he just wants people to be helped. 📖 Spiritual Parallel: Matthew 6:1 – “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them.”

____

Episode: “The Gift” (Season 1, Ep. 19a)

In this heartwarming (and hilarious) holiday episode, Wander and Sylvia race across the galaxy to deliver presents to everyone they’ve met over the past season. Sylvia thinks their job is done—until Wander insists they also bring gifts to Lord Hater and his army of Watchdogs. Why? Because even villains deserve kindness.

Wander believes that if Hater receives a gift, “his heart might grow three sizes” and he’ll start spreading cheer instead of fear. Despite Sylvia’s complaints, Wander joyfully distributes gifts—even hiding in vents and chimneys to do so. And when the Watchdogs find joy from receiving presents “from Lord Hater” (thanks to Wander’s clever plan), even Hater starts to see the impact of unexpected kindness.

Although Hater initially uses the moment to try to conquer again, his soldiers—and even the “ornament villagers”—end up filled with cheer. Hater is literally buried under a pile of hugs. Wander's mission of selfless love didn’t go as expected… but it still worked.

📖 Galatians 6:9 – “Let us not grow weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”

Even when kindness doesn’t seem to “work” in the way we hoped, it still plants seeds. Wander models the kind of persistent, self-giving love that Jesus calls us to—a love that gives freely, even when it’s rejected or misunderstood.

____

Episode: “The Little Guy” (Season 1, Ep. 7a)

In this heartfelt and funny episode, we meet Westley, the tiniest and most overlooked of Lord Hater’s army of Watchdogs. Desperate to prove himself, Westley sets out to capture Wander and Sylvia, hoping to earn Hater’s approval and receive the prestigious “Medal of Evil.” But along the way, something unexpected happens—he meets kindness.

Wander doesn’t mock Westley’s size or ambition. Instead, he sees the small Watchdog’s potential, treating him with patience, encouragement, and even friendship. As they travel together, Westley slowly begins to see the world differently—witnessing joy, generosity, and the power of gentleness. He starts softening, even though he constantly fights it.

One of the most touching moments is when Wander and Sylvia offer Westley soup by a warm fire, expecting nothing in return. Westley assumes the worst, only to discover sincere love and safety. It’s in that quiet moment—wearing borrowed pajamas, warmed by the fire—that he begins to feel what it’s like to be seen, not for his usefulness or rank, but for who he is.

📖 1 Samuel 16:7 – “The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

Despite returning Wander and Sylvia to Lord Hater in the end, Westley can’t ignore what he’s experienced. He stages a fake explosion, fakes his own “demise,” and escapes the ship to quietly walk a new path. Reunited with Wander and Sylvia, he performs his first good deed by feeding a squirrel and receives his own star-covered hat—a symbol of his transformation.

📖 Matthew 5:16 – “Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”

____

🌟 Takeaways:

Wander teaches us that love isn’t loud—it’s consistent. He reminds us that kindness is a calling, not a personality trait. And in a world where bitterness and revenge are expected, Wander overcomes with joy.

Whether you're facing a tough relationship, conflict, or a world that feels hostile… be like Wander. Choose joy. Choose mercy. Choose love.

📖 “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” – 1 Corinthians 10:31

🩷 Stay blessed, stay bold in love, and keep looking for God's heart in every frame.

~Sweet Selah

[nigelgraz]

I am happy because everyone loves me

[chubbidust]

cuptain dance

[druid-for-hire]

There's this sort of anthropomorphizing that inherently happens in language that really gets me sometimes. I'm still not over the terminology of "gravity assist," the technique where we launch satellites into the orbit of other planets so that we can build momentum via the astounding and literally astronomical strength of their gravitational forces, to "slingshot" them into the direction we need with a speed that we could never, ever, ever create ourselves. I mean, some of these slingshots easily get probes hurtling through space at tens of thousands of miles per hour. Wikipedia has a handy diagram of the Voyager 1 satellite doing such a thing.

"Gravity assist." "Slingshot." Of course, on a very basic and objective level, yes, we are taking advantage of forces generated by outside objects to specifically help in our goals. We're getting help from objects in the same way a river can power a mill. And of course we call it a "slingshot," because the motion is very similar (mentally at least; I can't be sure about the exact physics).

Plus, especially compared to the other sciences, the terminology for astrophysics is like, really straightforward. "Black hole?" Damn yeah it sure is. "Big bang?" It sure was. "Galactic cluster?" Buddy you're never gonna guess what this is. I think it's an effect of the fact that language is generally developed for life on earth and all the strange variances that happen on its surface, that applying it to something as alien and vast as space, general terms tend to suffice very well in a lot more places than, like... idk, botany.

But, like. "Gravity assist." I still can't get the notion out of my head that such language implies us receiving active help from our celestial neighbors. They come to our aid. We are working together. We are assisted. Jupiter and the other planets saw our little messengers coming from its pale blue molecular cousin, and we set up the physics just right, so that they could help us send them out to far stranger places than this, to tell us all about what they find out there.

We are assisted.

And there is no better way to illustrate my feelings on the matter than to just show you guys one of my favorite paintings, this 1973 NASA art by Rick Guidice to show the Pioneer probe doing this exact thing:

"... You, sent out beyond your recall, go to the limits of your longing. Embody me. ..."

Gravity assist.

[bixels]

i can't express how absolutely important it is that when you make an edgy, brooding, badass character who's tough as nails and good at fighting and whatever, you HAVE to give them at least one reason to become completely helpless and pathetic. you have a panic attack quota to fulfill.

[happyheidi]

𝗍𝗁𝗂𝗌 𝗅𝗂𝗍𝗍𝗅𝖾 𝖺𝗇𝗀𝖾𝗅 𝗐𝗂𝗌𝗁𝖾𝗌 𝗎 𝖺 𝗅𝗈𝗏𝖾𝗅𝗒 𝖽𝖺𝗒 ♡

𝗏𝗂𝖺: 𝖾𝗇𝗀𝗅𝖺𝗇𝖽𝗁𝗂𝗅𝗅_𝗓𝗈𝗈

[hellenhighwater]

A note, because not everyone knows this: if you're driving and another driver flashes their brights at you, this is a signal to be on alert and slow down. There may be debris in the road, a cop out of sight, or an animal crossing ahead of you. (Or, alternatively, your brights are on and they're getting blinded.) Whatever the reason, it's a signal that you need to focus and reduce speed. And possibly turn your own brights off.

This PSA has been brought to you by the four fawns and does that ran out in front of me at various points on my drive home.

Let's court death with mama!

[redstonedust]

yknow AI art has ruined an entire genre of painting to me, i saw one of those smooth anime-realism pieces and immidiately thought ''ugh, AI art'' until i noticed it was posted by an established deviantart user 6 years ago. like ive never been a huge fan of that genre but it looks like a pretty difficult style to master and i feel bad for the artists who specialized in anime-realism only to have their entire market jacked by people typing keywords into midjourney.

[yutamayo]

Get car seats for my kids first.

[oatmealspet]

Over 800 TAG members marched on Netflix & delivered a petition demanding the AMPTP keep #animation jobs #union, agree to AI protections & more. Show the AMPTP that you #standwithanimation. Sign your name next to the people that make the shows you love.

[astronomical-bagel]

[thesweetselah]

Verses That Match This Scene: Zuko’s Apology to Uncle Iroh

A part of the “Verses That Match This Scene” series on TheSweetSelah blog.

Hi friend 💛

Welcome back to TheSweetSelah, where faith meets animation and God’s truth shines through the most unexpected moments. This post is part of my “Verses That Match This Scene” series—where I reflect on powerful scenes in animation and pair them with scripture that speaks directly to the heart.

____

Episode: Sozin’s Comet, Part 2: The Old Masters

The Scene: Zuko’s Apology to Iroh

Zuko has betrayed his beloved uncle more than once. He chose power over love. Pride over humility. But in this moment, broken and changed, he enters Iroh’s tent—unsure if forgiveness is possible. When Iroh wakes, Zuko begins to cry, barely able to speak through the guilt.

“I’m so sorry, Uncle. I’m so sorry and ashamed of what I did.”

Before he can say anything else, Iroh embraces him with tears.

“I was never angry with you. I was sad, because I was afraid you had lost your way.”

Zuko had expected punishment. But instead, he received grace.

📖 “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.” - Luke 15:20

Zuko’s moment mirrors the parable of the prodigal son. In Luke 15, Jesus describes a father who welcomes his lost son—not with judgment, but with celebration. That’s what we see here. Iroh doesn’t need an explanation. He just needs to hold the boy he never stopped loving.

Like Zuko, we may carry regret for what we’ve done. But God doesn’t wait to punish us. He’s waiting to embrace us the moment we turn back.

____

🌟 Takeaways:

God doesn’t shame you. He welcomes you. Like Iroh, He already sees your heart.

Forgiveness is a gift, not a transaction. You don’t earn it—you receive it.

Your past doesn’t disqualify you from returning home.

Maybe today, like Zuko, you feel like you’ve gone too far. But grace doesn’t have a limit. There’s always room to come back.

📖 “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” – 1 Corinthians 10:31

🩷 Stay blessed, stay open to grace, and keep your eyes on God’s light in every frame.

~Sweet Selah

[notrobinsomethingworse]

Dick, deadpan: You hid a racoon in your room.

Jason, crouched by a sleeping racoon currently sleeping on a pillow. Theres scratches all over his arms and legs. He doesn’t seem bothered: yeah? What ya gonna do about it?

Dick: Un-hide? The goddamn racoon in your room?

Jason: But I’ve named him.

Dick: Well, un-name him.

Jason: He’s Barty.

Dick: I don’t care.

Jason: …

Jason: We can use him to fuck with Bruce.

Dick: …

Dick: Would Barty like some food?

[bunjywunjy]

oh The Fish™️ of tumblr, what is thy wisdom?

did you know that king cobras can growl?

because they can. they growl.

[why-animals-do-the-thing]

hi! can i ask what's ur opinion on giving pets away? not necessarily because u can't afford to care for em anymore but maybe incompatibility of personalities or maybe lifestyles. is it wrong to give ur pet for adoption if u know someone who's better suited for keeping a pet, like emotionally?

This is going to be controversial, but I support making that choice.

There’s a lot of rhetoric lately around how it’s evil and unethical to rehome your pet if you don’t “need to.” And what that does is prioritize human ideology over the actual animal’s well-being.

Pets that aren’t a good match for your home or pets that aren’t really wanted anymore frequently have lower welfare! When caring for an animal becomes a burden or is forced, people end up resenting them, and that means the animal often doesn’t get all of its needs fulfilled. Even if you’re still feeding it and providing appropriate vet care, how likely are you to provide affection or enrichment to an animal you’re tired of being stuck with?

Lifestyle and personality really matter to making sure a pet is a good fit for a home. A dog that alert-barks at every leaf that moves is probably a bad fit for someone who has a chronic migraine syndrome, and they might not know that until the dog has been in the home for weeks and started to open up. A really feisty kitten that requires a ton of play might not do best in the home of someone older who wanted a quiet lap cat. And while you can you do your best to plan to find a compatible animal, you won’t always know ahead of time what issues might arise.

“Forever home” rhetoric is really, really popular and I think it’s very unfair to the animals it is supposed to support. It started with the backlash of seeing animals abandoned inappropriately, and has been heavily reinforced in the public mind because it’s so frequently used to drive fundraising and support for legislation. The whole “forever home” concept communicates to people that getting an animal is an immutable commitment and that if you can’t keep an animal, it is a personal moral failing. It frames human priorities (we think people who get rid of animals are Evil and Bad and should be shunned) as more important than actual welfare needs for individual animals (are they getting the care they need where they are).

Obviously, I don’t support people dumping animals or just getting fad pets they’ll discard immediately, but there’s so many alternate situations that can arise. Even if it’s just “they got a pet and didn’t know what caring for it would take and didn’t want to care for it so they brought it back, how awful” like… okay, I’d like the person to have done more research before they got a pet, but isn’t it better that the animal now has a second chance to go to better home? Knowing what a commitment requires theoretically can be very different than having to actually follow through regularly, and I’d rather see someone maturely acknowledge that having an animal isn’t a good fit than keep it anyway!!

If animals being happy and with all their biological, veterinary, and social needs fulfilled is actually the goal, we need to prioritize their welfare over human opinion. I’d much rather see an animal rehomed responsibly to somewhere it will thrive and be welcomed than see people keep animals they can’t/don’t want to care for out of guilt or shame. 

[paragonraptors]

i should have prepared more for davrin week but here's a very rough take on a combo of day 1 and 2 @datvcompanionweeks