Around the bend

My daughter and I recently cuddled up on the couch and watched Tim Burton’s 2010 version of Alice in Wonderland, with Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter. I’ve seen it before but for some reason this time I saw so many parallels to the journey of life and faith. So,  I thought it would be fun to write about them this week. 

 

From the opening exchange between Alice and her father I was hooked.  Alice was having nightmares and delusions and asked her father if she had “gone round the bend.” His response was, “"I'm afraid so...you're mad; bonkers. Off your head...but I'll tell you a secret...all of the best people are."  

I have always had affection for people that are just a little wacky.  Wackiness is often indicative of an eccentric personality or an entrepreneurial spirit both of which I find inspiring and fascinating. 

I found Alice so endearing. Perhaps I identified with this unconventional and often defiant young girl and her quest to become all that she was meant to become.  It was not an easy journey to say the least, but one with many twists and turns, much like life.  I loved her spunk and tenacity.  She was not always sure of who she was, nor was she confident that she had what it would take to fulfill her destiny, yet she displayed an enormous amount of courage from the very beginning.  It was her courage coupled with curiosity that led her down the rabbit hole to ultimately discover her identity.  And every step of the way she was becoming more and more her self.

Alice had a sense that there were great things in store for her.  She carried her father’s free spirit inside of her but she was being pressured to settle for a life of convenience.  However, just in the moment that she was “supposed” to accept the marriage proposal that would “supposedly” mean that she would be taken care of financially and live a carefree life, a rabbit in a waistcoat showed up and challenged it all.  She recognized the interruption as an invitation to embark on an adventure. Instead of settling for the status quo, she followed the rabbit all the way to Wonderland where she would realize an inner strength and resolve that she didn’t even know she possessed.

I think we all have times in life when we may be tempted to settle for the path of least resistance or the less scary option. But we have our Father’s spirit inside us pushing us to believe for the impossible. 

Alice’s father in an opening line in the movie said, “The only way to achieve the impossible, is to believe it’s possible.”

Is there a path you should be following even if it goes against all reason?  Is the Holy Spirit nudging you to follow Him down a particular road?  Say "Yes!" to the invitation to embark on the adventurous life of faith marked out for you and just wait to see all that is around the bend!