There is something gripping about fairy tales. As we read them, we are enthralled, captivated, enchanted….and we cannot help but imagine ourselves living in a fairy tale as well. There is something pure and beautiful about the fairy tale world of Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella, something adventurous and compelling about Narnia and Middle Earth, something irresistible and wonderful about Neverland. Compared to these worlds, our own world seems dull and boring. But the truth is, our world is anything but dreary. The world only appears to be that way when we don’t take the trouble to look deeper. Because our world is a world of disguises, it takes effort and imagination to see the world as it really is. It takes a true fairy tale heroine to see past the dull surface of everyday things and see the real world.
It’s the simple things that hold the most magic. Next time you do a simple, everyday thing, like take a walk around the neighborhood, look past the white siding walls of the houses lined up the street… and instead see a village with straw-thatched huts and wave to the laughing village children playing in front. Then return home to your enchanted castle, which looks like an ordinary brick house but was once a white palace; when you were just an infant, a spell was cast upon it, so you cannot remember it. Putting your coat away, you must be careful not to step too deep into the closet, for soon you would feel the crunch of snow under your feet and spy the glimmering light of a lantern amidst a dark forest. At home, as you pour yourself a cup of hot tea, handle the teapot gently for you never know if it might speak to you and tell you its story of a genial old lady enchanted into a teapot. It happened to Belle, you know… Who’s to say it won’t happen to you? Your caring, smart dog might be Nana, the nanny from Peter Pan. That mouse you find in your garage might be Gus from Cinderella, your sister’s pet bunny might have once roamed the woods and shyly watched Sleeping Beauty as she laid eyes on Prince Philip for the first time and as they sang the melody of their hearts together.
Car rides always have the potential to be long, boring, and decidedly un-fairy-tale-ish, garish yellow lights glaring in your face and the sound of cars whizzing by on the busy highway. But, looking through the window, if you try hard enough, you can see rolling fields and you must bundle up as the cold wind brushes your face in the open air of your horse-drawn carriage. You speed by, chased by the black carriage directly behind you, pulled by a horse with two yellow gleaming and sinister eyes. It pulls up closer, and you hold your breath and urge your coachman to go faster.
And of course, Pinterest is an essential of life, it is a magic mirror that shows you your wishes, just doesn’t fulfill them…
The world around you will tell you that trying to see things in this way is only wishful thinking, making up a superficial world instead of living in the real world. The truth is, the fairy tale world is the real world. The real world is one of beauty, truth, and goodness, and every fairy tale, every enchantment, is a story in itself, one all about good winning over evil, all about beauty and wonder in the simple things of God’s creation, and all about finding our own heart as we learn to love purity, littleness, and innocence, and use our imagination as a pathway to find the truth.
And if you’re having a bad day, all you need is faith, trust, and pixie dust… also known as glitter.
