Don’t Wish Yourself Away Parenthood Ideas

Don’t Wish Yourself Away

June 26, 2011 – 2:09 pm

Christmas weekend we took our grandchildren to see the new Narnia movie, “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.” In this story Lucy is fixated on being as beautiful and popular as her older sister Susan, and in one scene stands in front of a full-length mirror comparing her appearance to Susan’s. As she stares at her image, she watches herself morph into Susan. She then steps into the mirror and finds herself at an outing where she is the center of attention. As she basks in her new-found popularity, however, she discovers that when she became Susan, Lucy had ceased to exist, either in the past or the present. As a result, all of Lucy’s contributions to the family had disappeared along with her, and Narnia had never been discovered. Lucy is then pulled back through the mirror and Aslan appears beside her. When she asks what happened, he replies, “You wished yourself away.”

I believe that this may be the most important lesson in this latest theatrical release in the Narnia series. It is a lesson that is especially appropriate for this Easter season when we Christians tend to do a great deal of self-examination.

As a society we long to be someone “better” than who we are. We are constantly exposed to people who are better looking, smarter, better educated, and more successful than we. Christians are not immune to the pressures of living in a society permeated by body image and materialism. As a result, we believe that if we were better looking, smarter, better educated, and more successful, we would be happier. We Christians, however, find even more reasons to be discontent with ourselves than our non-Christian peers. We are aware that much of the time we fail to display the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness and faithfulness that are the fruits of the Spirit. We read books and attend conferences and wish that we were more like those Christian leaders whom we admire so much. As a result, we end up wanting to be almost anyone other than who we are. It is, of course, important to always look for ways to improve ourselves, but it is equally important to recognize that we already have value. God loves diversity and he made each of us unique. While it is true that you cannot become someone else, it is equally true that someone else cannot become you. You have special work to be done in a special way that is unique to you. If you were suddenly to morph into that person whom you admire so much, who would do those things God entrusted to you? The truth is that God’s world would have a little hole in it shaped just like you. I hope that as you prepare to celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, you will give serious thought to the things that need work in your life and make a genuine effort to improve in those areas. I also hope that you will remember that you are God’s unique creation. He made you exactly the way He wanted you to be, and no one else can take your place. Whatever else you do this Easter season, don’t wish yourself away.

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