The
Wizard of Oz always was a favorite movie of mine, but it always bothered me at
the end when Glenda told Dorothy she had what she needed to leave Oz all
along...the ruby slippers.
Why did
Glenda do that to Dorothy? Just think of all Dorothy could have avoided...the
scary monkeys, the long journey, etc.
What if Glenda had simply told
Dorothy those shoes are your one-way ticket out of here? Would
Dorothy have stayed? Would she have stopped to help a brainless scarecrow, a
heartless tin man and the cowardly lion? Probably not. Would she have made a
choice that put her on a road to hardship, persecution, and danger even though
she knew that she would save others and grow personally along the way? And if Dorothy
had returned straight to Kansas, what was the point of the journey?
Just like a mother has to step back as her child is taking his first steps, Glenda stepped back. She knew Dorothy had to go
through those hard places to become the Dorothy she should be. By taking that hard road she made some wonderful friends, and those difficult experiences made her grow personally.
Had she taken that easy way out, she
would have been forever looking for that place “over the rainbow” and avoiding
her fears. But by going there, by
preserving, she learned that “somewhere over the rainbow” wasn’t a perfect place to escape from your problems. It was a place of growth.
There
are other books like The Wizard of Oz with epic journeys, and in each one the
protagonist returns a changed individual. In these books the “hero’s journey” is quite literal and we see it is through trials and tests that the characters bloom and grow.
All
these books remind me of Job 23:10
But He knoweth the way that I
take: when He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.
In life it is the hard times that help us to become stronger. Just as in life, adversity can make our characters stronger too. While it isn’t
easy to make beloved characters suffer, we can take a cue from these journeys as well as from the lessons in the book of Job-- it isn't the good times forge character, it's the trials.
This is so true, but sometimes I think we only realize the value of our trials at the end. I remember watching Wizard of Oz as a child, in the midst of incest and abuse, and thinking, "If I were Dorothy, I'd never want to leave Oz." I was always puzzled by her, "There's no place like home." For years I blamed God for the pain He permitted in my life. Now I am grateful that I had that experience, but it took healing. Some used to tell me that God had great plans for me and He permitted the abuse. I used to think, "Great recruiting system, God." I blamed God for satan's work. It took years of learning who God was, that I really wanted a Father God, and that God had my best in mind, to be able to look at my past with equanimity. It took time to heal. But it is true, our trials make us stronger, teach us compassion, and help us to grow in Him.
ReplyDeleteI just realized that by taking the Christian journey and putting the same principles into my book for my character to experience is how I can make my book 3D, so to speak. I truly am thankful I found this blog. I have only read four articles and already God has blessed my heart and encouraged me tremendously. Thank you for taking the time to share your insights with us. Now, I have some editing to do...
ReplyDelete