The West Wing is Forbidden

Last night my amazing roommate went with me to see Beauty and the Beast on the Ultrascreen in 3D. It was amazing just as I thought it would be. I bring this up because it made me think about two very specific things that I would like to share with you today.

First: while I adore Disney movies and have held on to the magic of them even as a 26 year old, I still see the movies differently then I did as a kid. At some point between childhood and adulthood a teeny-tiny thing called Skepticism creeps into our brains. As kids it is absolutely normal for someone to talk to a horse and simply know that it will answer. As adults, we know that is just silly. We question it and start to ask more questions from there. How on earth could an entire village wake up and sing in perfect harmony about a strange new girl that lives up on the hill? They all know the melody, the words…and while in my perfect world things like that would happen every day, this is not a “real” experience. It simply doesn’t happen (apart from flash mobs).

“What moments! What Holy Moments! To be in the presence of God, frightened and amazed at the same tiem! To feel as if you are in the presence of life itself, yet with your soul shaking in both terror and gratitude.”

So at what point do we start to look at God skeptically? At what point do we start to question the things that were so real to us as kids? Mike Yaconelli wrote a book called Dangerous Wonder a few years back. I have read it several times and would highly recommend it to anyone. The book deals with us losing the wonder of God at some point and talks about how we can get back to that moment. God is an amazing and complex being. He is to be loved and feared. We will never even begin to comprehend everything there is to know about God. I personally believe that if we knew everything, we wouldn’t need to have faith. There would just be facts and statistics about a God who created the entire Universe using only words. I would rather not have all the answers and stay in the world that means I have to let go of what I know and allow God to lead me.

“There is hope for me yet, because God won’t forget, all the plans he made for me. I have to wait and see. He’s not finished with me yet.”

The second thing I observed while watching the movie was that God doesn’t back away when we’ve disobeyed. We, of course, deal with the consequences of our actions, but God will never simply be done with us. This came to me as I watched Belle wander into the West Wing of the castle even though that was the one place she was specifically told not to go.

Something about humans makes us want to do the exact opposite when we are told we can’t do something. Maybe we are trying to prove ourselves or just want to rebel, but the instant the word NO comes into the picture, we want to say Yes. We could be told that we can eat anything in the world except for Brussel Sprouts. Anything else is ok, but Brussel Sprouts are forbidden. We may not even like Brussel Sprouts, but our first instinct is to go to the grocery store and buy as many Brussel Sprouts that we can find. What I love about God is that He doesn’t abandon us in our moments of weakness. He is still there when we stray. He is waiting for us when we wander from Him. He never closes his door. We have to deal with the consequences of disobeying him, but ultimately He welcomes us back to Him with arms wide open. That, to me, is true Love.