In Defense of Fairy Tales

A steadily increasing amount of people I meet believe imagination and fairy tales to be just a "cute phase" of one's early childhood.  Things to pack up in unlabeled boxes and store on a closet shelf.


Many who would identify as evangelicals define these beloved stories and far away places our minds wander with them as a distraction, an escape.  As unnecessary junk accumulating space in our heads where other things - facts, formalities and the "real world" should instead reside.


But the world and the people therein are not simply what we perceive by way of our senses.  Many would like us to believe matter is all that truly exists - that there is no great magic - no direction, value or significance to our lives, or any life.  We're just a bunch of particles after all.  Or are we?


Are our lives defined by the sort of order science provides for us?  Have we taken earthly tools and chosen to use them to interpret both the temporal and eternal?


The world and the humans who dwell in it are far more magical than most of us may care to think of, yet alone admit.


We as Christians should be able to grasp the importance of fantasy more than our materialistic counterparts - because fairy tales actually point us to a greater, fuller sense of reality -  the balance between the physical and spiritual.


It's through these stories that children are taught there's more to what's around them than what our temporal vision can offer us.  Every human being possesses a soul, which the forces of darkness are warring Heaven for every single day.  The devil seizes every opportunity he can find to gain ground and enlarge his territory.  


Daily we are faced with the greatest reality of all - there is a literal battle going on in each and every moment, and we get to decide if we will join in the fight or not.


Stories matter because they shape who we become.  They frame the setting in which we find ourselves.  They remind us that very little of what we know can actually be rationalized and confined to a box in the closet.  Our Savior certainly cannot be.


Imagination forges heroes - for when a child hears of true bravery and sacrifice in the face of tremendous evil, they are empowered to face the darkness that surrounds them with the same tenacity.  


Perhaps we adults would benefit from these same stories?  Maybe it's time we took up our swords (or novels) and learned to wage war all over again.

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