Disney’s unexpected wisdom

I recently sat down after a long day of classes to amuse my battered mind with a little Disney humor. Instead, I was enraptured by the message I found within the movie.

Listen to this plot and think about it for yourself: Rapunzel has been trapped in her tower for 18 years. She does not realize that her “home” is actually a prison. She does not know who her enemy is. Really, she does not even know the truth of her own identity.

In fact, Rapunzel is the lost daughter of the King. She has been taught to fear life, to assume the worst of others and to choose to remain willfully in her tower for her own self-protection. In this tower, her “safe home,” she has no idea what she really needs. Yet she has an unshakeable longing for more.

Then one day, Rapunzel is surprised by Flynn Rider, who acts as the bridge to freedom and to the realization of who she really is.

Our stories are a lot like Rapunzel’s. Our lives have been imprisoned in a tower of darkness. Our minds have been filled with lies and desires to keep us locked up in fear. Our enemy seeks to keep us from realizing the truth. We have been deceived so that we will not realize who we are. We are lost sons and daughters of the King.

The enemy does not want us to come home, does not want us to believe that we are loved and tries hard to make sure that we never realize our purposes.

Yet, when we become discontent with our prison, when our heart begins to long for more than this empty life, then we are ready for a surprise. We are ready to be surprised by Christ and to break free from lies, prisons and fears. We are ready to leave our comfortable towers and advance to the unknown adventures that God planned for us before we were born.

And then, we have been redeemed. In a world that tells us that we are only as much as we can earn, we have been called children of a King.

So you see, we are called to be adventurers in a greater story than our own. The Author of our faith has laid out great works for us in advance.

At this time every semester, I begin to constantly question why I should write that paper, study for that test or wake up for that class. Watching Rapunzel, I realized that I do those things for the glory of God—the One who has called me to live outside of my comfort zone so that I can be a part of a great adventure.