Maybe I should rephrase that into a more credible statement. The gospel is everywhere. Martin Luther said, "God writes the Gospel not in the Bible alone, but also on trees, and in the flowers and clouds and stars." So, if it is written in the stars above earth, why not also in the stars above Corona, which just happens to be the fictional Kingdom from the movie Tangled. If my father in law can quote Rocky movies in his sermons, sharing inner disposition changing lessons courtesy of Rapunzel and Flynn Rider is totally acceptable.
So I'll say it again, if it's wrong to learn valuable life lessons through Disney princess movies, I don't want to be right.
Rapunzel and I have a lot in common, well we have some things in common. I don't think of her trapped in a tower, held prisoner by a fake mom, but that to her, life in the beginning was filled with happiness, singing, painting, reading, and then doing the same things again over and over with a smiling face because this is life, and you can't change it, so let's look on the bright side while we dance around the room with a chameleon.
But then questions and answers started to not measure up and in one leap from a 'safe' room in the clouds she entered the world and reality hit. For a bit reality took her down and there she bounced back and forth between what was true and what was not without knowing who and what she was supposed to believe.
I get her, because in a way I was her. I remember being a super optimistic person who always tried to think the best of everyone, never assumed another was capable of taking advantage of me or others, and that people actually said what they meant as I was wandered through life with my glass half full mindset. That was, until, a big reality hit and then I was left with a shattered life view and a desito to figure out how to put the pieces back together.
Thankfully, it was a quick turn around to truly understanding that it wasn't my job to be the glue.
As I binge watch Parks and Rec for, I think I've lost count so let's call it, the 100th time, a similar personality can be found in the oh so funny character Chris Traeger. His seemingly never ending optimism is waning as he is nearing his depths of despair period and I left him just this morning realizing the weight of his mortality as he collapsed on the track while trying to get Andy in shape. He was desperately trying to solve a problem that we were never created to solve.
Let's face it, there will be days where you want the half full glass you carry around to be filled with something a little bit stronger than water, there will be days where it feels as if hard and difficult fill every second, and when a plucky optimistic voices responds with sunshine and rainbows your desired response is less than loving.
A long analysis of the relationships in the movie Trolls could be inserted here, but I'll spare you...for now.
Optimism is a wonderful character quality that can bring a smile to your face as well as those around you, but optimism does not really mean anything if it's not based upon Truth. Just as in the familiar scriptures from Corinthians 13 that tell us all the things we can do will be meaningless if we do not have love, all the the bright sides we can muster won't hold up without a true faith.
Why is this such a big deal? Because it's a short trip from shattered optimism to heart hardening cynicism. "You'd think," he also states, "that it would just leave us less optimistic, but we humans don't do neutral well. We go from seeing the bright side of everything to seeing the dark side of everything."
A life of joy that comes despite your circumstance, a life of finding something to smile about, even when in despair, is reality, but it doesn't come from gumption or personality or a try harder attitude. This life, this worldview, comes from a life hidden in Christ. It comes from feet being securely planted in the shadow of His wings. It comes from knowing the Truth of Psalm 62 that I rest in God alone, my hope comes from Him. He alone is my rock and my salvation and because of that, I will not be shaken.
No empty promises are wanted or needed, just the ones that bring assurance to your soul.
John Piper calls it faith in Future Grace, knowing you can trust the promise that God has plans for you in the future. I simply call it Hope, living in the present, anticipating the future, because of what Jesus did for me in the past. He is my bright side, in every scenario.
When those moments come that seem to shatter the optimism you naively built up, don't give up, don't look at all the collateral damage and seek a way to put it together again. Instead, look harder, past the initial, past the things that are trying to grab your attention with their frustrating ugliness. Look deep into the picture and find the little thing, the real thing that you need to be setting your eyes on. Your focus isn't the outside of the ring, your focus is the center, the bulls-eye to your heart. It is there, in Christ at the center, where you feel the pulse of Hope and when you concentrate there, it will begin to permeate through until you can expand the field of vision back to the shattered pieces and watch as He puts them together again.
Praying for you today, pray for me.
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