Yes… I confess. I love the Barbie movies. And the Disney Princess movies. I watched my first fairytale when I was already 19… and I’m sure I couldn’t have loved it more if I was 9. What girl doesn’t love fairy tales — old or young?
Today was Vicky’s 5th birthday and we watched Barbie and the Diamond Castle. As I watched, I was convinced that things haven’t changed much after all since girls loved Anne of Green Gables and daydreamed about The White Way of Delight. There is something about fairy tales that speak to who we were made to be, I think. They are allegorical to the way the world should be — where good triumphs over evil, where women are princesses and men are princes and know their own and others’ inherent worth.
Fairy tales are all about believing. I know that there are some who believe that fairy tales are detrimental to Christianity or to young minds. I suppose that without a good grasp of reality, they could be. But with the perspective of learning a lesson — or several — and realizing that God’s gifts are the “good magic” that work in real life, to conquer, to save and to create beauty and joy — then I think that fairy tales are infinitely valuable.
“Hidden beneath the ground
Is the spring that feeds the creek
Invisible as the wind
That you feel upon your cheek
And every breeze that whispers
Reminds us constantly
Sometimes what’s real
Is something you can’t see
Believe in all that can be
A miracle starts when ever you dream
Believe and sing from your heart
You’ll see
Your song will hold the key”
I suppose I am someone who has realized what believing really is and what it means. Without believing, there is no reason to live. It’s something you don’t know unless you experience the loss of all that you believed in — only to gain it back. It is a slow process, full of change, shadows, and light… but once you come through on the other side it is something you can never lose again.
It reminds me of some song lyrics I wrote the last year we lived in Maine, Light and Shadows:
“Once upon a time, when shadows played with light,
And every day was just a happy song…
Then, everything you knew, you knew that it was true
And fear was short, but months were very long.
But as the years keep flying, you notice you start trying
To see the light and shadows as you saw them once before.
‘Cause now they seem to struggle; they each try to win the battle
And, instead of play, the light and shadows wage a subtle war.
You try to build your way; you want it to be strong;
You work and then you try to hold it tight.
But when your hands grow weak, your eyes want to stop seeking
And then you long to just rest in the night.
It’s when it all escapes you, it’s when it overtakes you,
It’s when you let it slip away and you look up to the sky,
That Something comes to hold you and a quietness enfolds you
And you know someday you’ll see the shadows playing with the light.
Yes, you know someday you’ll see the shadows
Playing with the light.”
*hugs*
God’s forgiveness means that He doesn’t hold anything against me but loves me just the same today as He did the day I was born. Others’ forgiveness means that bad memories are forgotten as though they never happened, and only the good ones remain; that the love that decided to forgive and forget brings you together stronger than ever before… closer each day and into the wonderful future.