We just spent 3 days with family at Disney Land in California. The weather was perfect, the lines were pretty short, and we all had a blast.
We got to see Mickey
and Donald
and Minnie
and Goofy
even Mary Poppins and her beau
Kezi was in awe of Aurora (Sleeping Beauty)
and Snow White
and Cinderella
and Belle
Disneyland in California is often called "The Happiest Place on Earth" and the place "where all your dreams come true."
Disney World, in Florida, is also known as the "Magic Kingdom."
And they DO make it look magical and wonderful...it's easy to imagine life being perfect and all my dreams coming true in that fairytale world.
But God's been teaching me over the last year more about His kingdom and what that looks like here on earth. It's not picture perfect palaces and pretty princesses. It's not the amazing World of Color water spectacular or diverse unity in The Small World.
The Kingdom of God is real.
It's also contrary to the ways of the world, which makes living it out difficult, messy, painful. Take 'love your enemy as yourself' for instance. That's not 'happily ever after' in most people's books. Most of us want to condemn our enemies, avenge ourselves on them, or at least cut them out of our lives. Forgive them? Forget it.
Then there is 'do unto others as you would have done to you.' How many of us actually live like that? The tendency is 'me first, and if there's anything left, I might share with you, if I feel like it.'
I'm not judging anyone here...just observing life. I'm right in there, too...trying to bring God's Kingdom to come in my life, failing miserably, falling at the feet of Jesus once again and saying, "I can't do this without you. Would YOU bring your kingdom to come in my life. Would YOU let your will be done in me."
It's not about my best efforts...it's all about God's grace, and me walking in faith knowing He can do it in and through me as I keep my eyes on Him and let Him be my shepherd.
I was thinking about the idea of Disney being the place 'where all your dreams come true.' It was the last day of our 3-day pass, and we were just about to get on the roller coaster for the last ride of the day, when I heard some commotion behind me. I looked back and saw John carrying Noah, both of them covered in blood, and Noah crying, "I'm dyyyyying, I'm gonna dieeeeee!"
Noah had tripped on the stairs and landed forehead first. Blood was pouring down his face. One of the ride attendants was spinning in circles going, "Okay, it's gonna be okay, alright, okay, what do I do, okay, it's gonna be okay." One of the others was a little more proactive and brought a stack of paper towels and some ice cold water, so after several cold compresses we were able to stop the bleeding and assess the damage. It turned out to be a pretty small cut, but you know how head wounds bleed.
They brought a nurse who cleaned it up a bit better, put a bandaid on and pronounced us good to go. Noah was allowed to go on the roller coaster since it was our last ride, and we managed to get home without further mishap.
My point is, it wasn't our dream to have our little boy crack his head open and bleed all over the place on the last ride. It wasn't the Grand Finale we had in mind. And there's no guarantee that anyone anywhere can make all our dreams come true.
But when we live in the Kingdom of God here on earth, letting Him be King in our lives, and letting His dreams become our dreams, then it IS possible to see our dreams come true. The plans of God will never be thwarted.
May He give us the grace to let Him put His dreams in our hearts, and give us the faith to trust Him to make them come true. And may we all see the Kingdom of God coming more and more in our lives.
