Death of a Small Life
We
know the fairy tales. We are familiar
with the Reluctant Hero on a Quest scenario.
The poor, unassuming farm boys/servant girls/orphans lead small lives in
small worlds. Suddenly, they are
presented with a problem/object/invitation.
Hesitantly, they accept the challenge.
They fail their first trials. They
discover mentors. Enemies mount
offensive tactics. The challenges grow
more daunting and the chances of success grow slimmer. Yet by the end of the story they succeed in
their task and become who we knew they were destined to be.
What
happens to convince them first, to step out of their smaller story into a
larger one, and second, to accept the truth about who they really are?
The
first answer is that something in them decides against the status quo. The second answer is that they die to
themselves.
This
process of dying to themselves begins when they accept that they have a purpose
in a story larger than what they’ve known. It ends when they take the risks and make the
sacrifices for the good of the others. It
is the sacrifice that wins the heart of the special someone, defeats the enemy,
saves the day.
It’s
no different for us.
Finding our lives by losing them means sacrificing
the small to get the large, the mediocre for the excellent, the safe for the
stunning.
Is
it really a sacrifice to give up small, mediocre, and safe to gain large,
excellent, and stunning?
I don’t
know who it was who said, “the greater the risk, the greater the reward” but I
would bet they were not living the mediocre thing.
Was
Peter’s life mediocre? Was Paul’s safe? Were David’s and Moses’ lives small?
Was
Jesus’ life any of those?
Don’t
let yours be. Let the small go. Grasp the large. Decide for the adventure. Accept who you really are.
Find
your life by losing it.
It.
Is. Worth. It.
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Thursday, June 06, 2013
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Fairy Tales: The Story of Your Life
Ah,
yes. Fairy tales. I wrote about them a while back. Please forgive me if I borrow a bit from
myself.
Have you
ever wondered why fairy tales remain popular, why we never seem to outgrow them?
I still
remember my mother taking me to my first movie, Disney's Cinderella. The beauty in rags, treated cruelly yet her
heart remained open. The handsome prince
who fell in love with her at first sight, choosing her above all
others. Her kind mouse friends and providential
fairy godmother bringing guidance and hope.
The wicked stepmother vowing to take her down, no matter the cost. And finally [sigh] the cinder-sweeper is herself swept away by the prince, who
let nothing stand in the way of his pursuit of her, to become the princess we knew
she was from the beginning, living Happily Ever After…
This is the
story of my life. It’s the story of your
life. Our lives ARE fairy tales. Fairy
tales are powerful because they are TRUE.
We are the
beauty in rags (Song of Solomon 1:5-6), treated cruelly by those who refuse to
see our beautiful hearts (Psalm 59). The
villain, our Enemy the Devil, seeks any and every way to kill, steal, and destroy us
(John 10:10). Our own mice and godmothers are our friends and loved ones (Ecclesiastes 4:12). And of course, Prince Jesus,
our Hero (Zephaniah 3:17), who gives His life out of His love for us (John 3:16),
whose name is Faithful and True, riding on His white horse to our rescue (Revelation
19:11).
Happily Ever
After DOES EXIST, only we know it as HEAven.
What? Your life of laundry and carpool and bills is
about as far from a fairy tale as you can imagine? My dear Cinderella, my prayer is that The
Author, Father God Himself, will open the eyes of your heart to see past the
sentences of your story to its Spirit.
They will see His face… There
will be no more night… And
they will reign for ever and ever.
(Revelation 22:4,5)
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Thursday, January 24, 2013
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Fairy Tales, Rated R
You would never dream (I hope) of letting young children
watch an R-rated movie. You might consider letting them watch a PG movie if you
had a chance to screen it first. Most of us, I image would let our kids watch a
G-rated movie without a second thought. That having been said, allow me to
propose a question to you:
If it were up to you, what would “Jack and the Beanstalk” be rated?
How about “Hansel and Gretel”?
Or “Rumpelstiltskin”?
If you answered “G-rated”, then you either don’t have small
children or you haven’t read the authentic versions of these stories in a
while. Frankly, I had forgotten about the dark sides of these stories until I
became a parent. Let me tell you, there is nothing like reading a story you
expected to be “safe” only to find yourself needing to edit as you go. If you don’t edit, your little ones will be
drifting off to sleep with images of Jack’s giant wanting to “feast on his
blood” and “crush his bones”. If you do not edit, you will get questions about
why Hansel and Gretel’s father walked them out into the forest to leave them
for dead because he could no longer afford to feed them…or the subsequent witch
who fed Hansel through a cage to fatten him up so that she could eat him. If
you do not edit, you will have a son or daughter worrying and wondering if it is possible to have a
child taken from his mother as Rumplestiltskin threatened to do.
I had forgotten about the dark sides of these “children’s”
stories. So, I edit them. I filter them. I water them down so that they can be
absorbed by the sweet little ears waiting to hear a good story each night.
I find I respond the same way with stories about real life.
I edit. I filter. I water down reality so that it may be
absorbed by the inquisitive four and two-year-olds who have been placed in my
care.
While I am hesitant to let my kids know the dark tales of
the realities we often live, I have been recently convicted that it may not
hurt for them to know some things. For if my kids never know that darkness can
exist, how will they learn the significance of the Light?
I think of kids throughout history who have grown up in
harder times than these and I wonder, “What did their parents teach them about
Jesus?” I can’t say that I know for sure, but I bet their lessons of faith went
a little deeper than “be kind to your friends at school.” I bet their lessons
talked about a Savior, in a real sense, who would right all of the world’s
ills. I bet their lessons talked about a hope and a future that God offers us
when we invest a hope and a future in Him. Most of all, I bet their lessons,
based in a reality not shielded from them, led to a deep and abiding faith in a
promise that someday there would be a new heaven and a new earth…a new happily
ever after.
May God equip each of us with the courage to share the authentic
version of His story. May He also guide
our words, in their appropriate timing and delivery, that may we likewise raise
up a generation of authentic believers who know that Jesus is more than a feel-good,
make-believe bedtime story.
The End.
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
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Above All, Expect a Fairy Tale*: Epilogue
Let’s face it. An easy life would be a boring life. We think we want comfort because it’s what we have settled for, but in our deepest hearts, buried beneath the disappointments and sorrows, we yearn for something more. We long to be part of a grand story, something bigger than we are. Dare I say it? Yes, yes I do. We long to live a fairy tale.
Fairy tales don’t resonate so deeply in our hearts because we’ve heard them a million times or been conditioned by society. They resonate because our lives are THE ULTIMATE fairy tales. Good versus evil, trial and triumph, love and romance, honor and glory. Life is full of battles, our individual stories a part of THE story.
WE ARE the chosen, unlikely heroes who reluctantly step into the roles we were born to play. Through training and testing, mentored by sages, we live our lives. We battle The Villain whose aim is to snatch us from our King into everlasting darkness.
It gets better. We have a dual role in our fairy tale. Not only is each of us the Hero, we are also the Beloved. Jesus is the Hero of Heroes. He is the Warrior King, fighting for us, providing for us, to woo us and win our hearts and take us to live with Him, Happily Ever After.
YOU: Wait a minute. What about that Happily Ever After stuff? I could use a little H.E.A.
ME: Don’t worry. Christians will live Happily Ever After…but not yet. H.E.A. doesn’t happen until H.E.A.VEN. Truly, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.” (1 Corinthians 2:9, Isaiah 64:4)
YOU: [sigh] Okay. That’s something to look forward to, but what about NOW?
ME: We can live the fairy tale now. “I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows).” (John 10:10, The Amplified Bible) Jesus isn't talking about Heaven, He's talking about TODAY.
Ask God to bring His abundant life for you.
EXPECT it. :)
*While these ideas are mine, John Eldredge has had them also, and he writes about them much better than I could in his book The Sacred Romance (which is why I never wrote my book). For further information visit www.ransomedheart.com.
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Thursday, July 07, 2011
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