Here we are, referencing Frozen within the cyber-pages of yet another blog post. Sorry lovelies, this trend isn't likely dying out soon.
If you're like me, you've likely been singing the Frozen soundtrack without ceasing for the past few
weeks. Ever since the movie premiered back in November I haven't been able to get the voices of Kristen Bell and Idina Menzel out of my head.
It's starting to become concerning (not really, I love it).
Disney's Frozen has absolutely blown up, grossing over $811 million in worldwide box office revenue. Many of it's songs and actresses have been nominated for various sorts of awards, and after seeing the response of the audience to the film the producers have decided to release a sing-along version of the animated movie in select theaters this Friday. I'm not sure how to pinpoint exactly what makes the film as attractive as it is. Perhaps it is the way that Anna teaches us to never give up on those we love most or the inspiring message from Elsa to 'be yourself', or maybe it's the reminder that princes, though they are wonderful and all, aren't where one's true satisfaction lies. This film is new in a way for Disney, because within the scenes is a message relayed that marriage, though it is beautiful to be a part of (or I imagine so), isn't the only relationship worth pursuing, a theme shown also in Disney/Pixar's Brave. Our lives are full of various relationships, all of which are gifts to be cherished, and though I think deep down many of us know this to be true, it's easy to hone in on one relationship that we desire so much that we can often forget the relationships that are already right in front of us. In Frozen, the relationship emphasized is that of sisterhood while in Brave it is that of a mother-daughter union. I appreciate that Disney is focusing on other relationships within their latest films, because even though I absolutely love the story of Prince Phillip fighting for his bride-to-be and awakening her to transform from Sleeping Beauty into his beloved Aurora, it's also refreshing to be reminded that the world consists of other relationships other than romantic.
This reminder is one that can spur us into a mentality of contentment.
Personally, my favorite part of Frozen is the soundtrack, particularly the song 'Let it Go', which has been nominated for various awards and is by far the best song to belt whilst driving with the car windows down (or anytime of the day, really), and even though it's an entertaining song to sing and though the movie is full of comical and sweet moments that revert me to back to childhood, I think a serious lesson to take to heart can be found within the words of this song.
Because here's the deal: all of us hold onto that which we need to simply let go of.
In the film, Queen Elsa is holding onto fear. Anna, her sister, could even be argued to be holding onto desires that aren't hers to have, not that desires are wrong (indeed I think desires are beautiful), it's just that oftentimes we can become so set on our desires that we sink into a mindset of impatience and discontentment.
As Americans, we often fall into the mindset that tells us we are privileged.
One of the most humbling experiences for me took place in Haiti, when my desires seemed incomprehensibly minuscule to those of people in third-world countries. I hunger for this and that, never being satisfied and always wanting more or better or bigger, while people all over the world, even in Abilene, literally hunger for food. Oh how all of our hungerings remind us of this one fact: we are made for another place, we are indeed fasting now in this lifetime for Jesus Christ.
This in itself is a post for another time. For now, we will focus on desires. We all have them, and they vary from person to person and situation to situation.
From a Christian perspective, discontentment should remind us to go before the Father and ask for satisfaction, because discontentment can steal our joy, which is exactly what the enemy wants.
Read these words of John 15:
'I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you'.Remaining in the Father's love allows our joy to overflow, which in another version says 'to be complete', and I think it is important to note exactly why-why do we want, why do we need, our joy to overflow? I believe it has something to do with the idea of service.
At the heart of God is serving, is loving other people, and when we remain in His love, we are reminded, even motivated dare I say, to love and to serve other people.
Which can mean one (of many) truths: our calling is to love.
We are made for it friends, we are made to serve, made to joyfully encourage one another and spur on one another in truth. We are made to love one another 'in the same way' Christ has loved us.
This is important to note because it brings up another truth: if our calling is to serve, then our calling is not found elsewhere. Oh, I believe God allows us to enter into other positions, other jobs and relationships and opportunities, but each of these are not the goal but rather they are blessings, gifts to be cherished but not idolized.
Our calling is to love, and loving takes various forms.
All of us have desires: to get into that school, to obtain this promotion, to have the perfect job, to meet and marry the ideal woman or man of God. We want more affirmation from our friends, family, or spouses or we want the best for our children. We want to be engaged now or we want to make the best grades possible, we want to know the outcome of the interview or we want the ideal internship, position, or scenario, and not only do we want but we want what we want how we want it, when we want it.
And none of these desires are wrong or bad. Conflict comes not from desires but in how we interact with our desires. Do we present them to God and allow Him to show us what He's doing in our lives, or do we allow our desires to consume us, heart, mind, body, and soul?
Sometimes we may be placing so much of our satisfaction, so much of our yearnings, into these desires that we are not allowing God's grace to be sufficient in our lives.
What happens then, when we finally do obtain the desires that we so passionately pursue? Oftentimes we force or manipulate situations into happening out of impatience. I've also seen this scenario play out: a person will put so much hope into a desire that when he or she finally receives it, that person is disappointed due to unrealistic expectations being placed upon the gift received.
Lastly, we forget that our desires are gifts- not privileges. Two dear, wonderful, god-fearing friends of mine are in a beautiful relationship. However, each of them had to learn a lesson: to let each other go, for they reached a point of forgetting that they were gifts to each other rather than privileges. After releasing their grips on one another and actually breaking up for a bit, God brought them back together in a relationship that, though it consisted of the same two people, was new and glorifying to Him. His plan for them was drastically different than what they had in mind for themselves.
I'm not saying that if you're single and wishing you were otherwise that you should be content in your singleness and then God will bring someone into your life (or fill-in-the-blank, fulfill whatever your desire is). This is not the message, not at all the point I am trying to make.
I'm not saying to tell God that you're content in the job you have, with the stage you're in, or with or without fill-in-the-blank and all of a sudden He will rain down your desire from heaven like manna. He isn't a genie, God cannot, will not, and should not be manipulated.
How it doesn't work: 'God, I'm content. Now can I have what I want?'
How it works: 'God, I'm content, because you are enough and I know your will is better, your plan is bigger'.
I'm saying that the calling of a Christian is nothing more and nothing less than to fall face-first before the throne of grace, which is sufficient for all people. Present your desires to God, and He will give you the desires that He has made your heart to receive. Sometimes these desires are what you would want for yourself, while other times they are perhaps the exact opposite. All the time they are for your good, because God is for your good.
Which are really the desires of His heart: the motivation and overwhelming joy to spread the love of Christ.
A friend of mine once spoke some wisdom: the hardest prayer to pray is 'Lord, let your will be done and let your kingdom come'. Oftentimes the will of God is different than what we would have for ourselves, but what we find is, when we live out His kingdom purposes, His will is the absolute best for us, because He is good and He works for our good.
What I often need a reminder of is this: being a Christian is to deny myself, to carry my cross, and follow Jesus. He calls me to set myself aside for the sake of other people. He calls me to find contentment in Him because in doing so my eyes and heart are opened to what God is doing in the world around me.
Oftentimes we do not realize that the desires we are holding onto are in actuality holding onto us, and when this is happening, are we truly in that moment slaves to righteousness?
I'm not saying to suppress desires, for this would make them seem evil. God delights to give us the desires of our hearts. However, the message here is to trust-trust the process and the God who is walking us through it.
Spirit to every part of me (on a daily basis): be patient, wild-child, for if you abide in my love, all of your desires will be filled, your cup will overflow.
Practically, how does this look? I think we must dwell on grace, and this looks different for each of us. I won't tell you a formula on how to have a relationship with God, because I find it insufficient to place God in such a box. For me to remain in the Father's love means much: I write out His characteristics of love, I think upon the cross and on the person of Jesus Christ, I spend time in prayer and listening, among other methods.
I have to focus my gaze on every aspect of the cross, of the sweet Gospel-truth.
It's also beneficial to bring up the topic of rest. I'm one of the most impatient people in the entire world. Oftentimes I will become so impatient, so restless, that I end up running around all crazy and chaotic like a chicken with my head cut off, and it's in these moments that God reminds me to rest, to simply be freaking still.
Like a five-year-old child, I have to be taught to be calm, to not be so flesh-filled and wild. We've all got that wild-child, impatient beyond belief, I want x, y, z now tendency deep down inside of us. We need God to calm our restless selves, to sit us down and recenter our focus on Him.
No matter how it looks for you, if you want to be filled, want to quench the thirst of your hungering soul, you have to let Him fill you up. This may mean letting Him prune you, letting Him take things away or give you what you never would've expected. It means taking different steps for each of us.
For all of us it means asking for more of Him and less of me, to tune my heart to sing His grace.
So, even though it is damn hard, the best way to live free, to be joyful in Christ, is to, with whatever you are holding onto, let it go.
