So I've had to wait to post this blog until the movie "Alice in Wonderland" came out on DVD and the blog could no longer be seen as a "spoiler."
I have always loved the story. Yes, I know Lewis Carroll was an opium-smoking pedophile, but his stories carry with them some important key elements for children's stories. And the movie is different in any case.
What caught my attention when I very first saw the new Alice in Wonderland in theaters was the scene just before Alice charges to fight the Jabberwocky. She has been given shiny armor and a sword, and told, in essence, to just hold on and let the sword do its work. As she's waiting for the fight to begin, she tells the Mad Hatter something her father always said-"I sometimes believe in six impossible things before breakfast."
Then, as she strides into the chessboard, the Dragonlike Jabberwocky breathes steam close to her and hisses, "My old foe, we meet again" (paraphrased, I don't have the dialogue COMPLETELY memorized). When Alice protests that she's never seen the monster before, he silences her by telling her he's talking to the Vorpol blade, her sword.
And the fight begins. But Alice, instead of focusing on the fight, from the moment she steps on the battlefield, begins muttering under her breath, "Six impossible things. Come on, Alice, count them." And she begins counting the impossible wonders that she has seen on her journey. No matter how vicious the battle becomes, each time she can catch her breath she tics off another one. She ends her list with, "Number six; I can slay the Jabberwocky!"
So forgive me for tying entertainment back to faith, but even sitting in the darkness of the theater, surrounded by popcorn-tossing friends, I was thunderstruck. It was a perfect illustration of how believers are meant to fight in this world. Think about it: All the pain and destruction, the horrors of religion vs. faith, occur when we try to fight in our own strength. We weaken and become cowards, or we grow too aggressive and harm bystanders with harsh words or insensitive actions.
Our enemy has seen the Sword and Armor we use before, but that doesn't make us less impervious or he less vulnerable. He hates us, because, among other things, we bear the sword that can prick him most viciously-the Sword of the Spirit and of the Word of the Lord. Our armor is none other than the Full Armor of God spoken of in Ephesians. And all we have to do...
ALL we have to do...
Is hang on to the sword.
Rather than six impossible things, we recite the promises found in God's word.
Our enemy uppercuts with the loss of a job,
"My God shall supply all your needs through His riches and Glory in Christ Jesus."
Left jab of depression hits us squarely in the jaw?
"The joy of the Lord is my strength."
Flaming dart of anger catches your clothing ablaze and ignites a quarrel?
"He leads me beside still waters, He restores my soul."
Mace of guilt about to crash down on your head for past sins?
"He whom the Son has set free is free indeed!"
You get the idea.
The whole point of this blog is "stand and fight." Now we come to how, practically, we can do that. Although not easy, it's necessary and gracious and just like our God to come up with something that even the weakest or most forgetful of us can do with His help.
Okay then, time to go practice what I preach.
"O Frabjuous day! Callou Callay!' He chortled in his glee!"
Jabberwock, Lewis Carroll
