I would be lying if I said I was a Disney movie guy. When I was a kid, I do remember watching "Lady and the Tramp" and always loved the scene with the Siamese cats and the little goldfish. Since becoming a father, I have watched more Disney movies in the last five years than in my previous thirty five years on this Earth. From Aladdin to Planes and now Frozen. It is amazing what you will do for your girls.
Today was my daughter, Gianna's fifth birthday. Like most children in the U.S., she is obsessed with the movie Frozen. Unlike most parents in the world, I had not seen the movie. When Gianna went to see it in the theaters, mom was "lucky" enough to go with her. Tonight, she received Frozen on DVD from her grandma and Poppi and tonight, I got a chance to watch it with my two girls.
I am glad that I did.
I really did like it. From the music to the animation, it was pretty darn good. I always felt that these movies were made more for the adults than the kids. The themes and the characters, although appearing simple at first, are quite complex. There is always something much deeper to each of them: From Elsa's brokenness and closed heart, to Anna's desire to be wanted and loved, these are things that many of us can relate to in our own lives. The metaphor of the closed gate of the castle that kept the sisters in but also kept the world out are the same walls that many of us put up around us to bury whatever pain we may be hiding from everyone else.
"Conceal, don't feel. Don't let them know." --That line is very powerful to me. How many of us are hiding from something in our lives? How many of us each and every day put on a mask and PRAY that no one has any clue of the pain we are enduring? It is no wonder why this movie was so popular. It is a story that rings true for many of us. It is a struggle that many of us deal with in our own lives.
The movie also gave me time to personally reflect on a few things. The mere idea of "frozenness" made me think about the Lenten season. It made me wonder where I was on my preparation for Easter. What was I running away from? What would I run to? I took a moment to think about my own sin. The sin (cold) that pushes so many away from me. The sin that separates me from the love of God and that love is the only love that will breathe life back to our hearts. A God that in the "greatest act of Love" turned the cold of death into everlasting life in his own resurrection.
And in the end, it really comes down to one thing. Love.
Funny how that works. We seem to try and find the most complicated answers to questions. For the most part, we come back to love. We return to that in which life is given. We return to the love that sets us free. That same love that died on the cross so that sin would never have the last word. That LOVE is the promise that guarantees us that we would never be have to be Frozen but rather alive in the love of God.
Thank you Jesus for the love that has pushed the cold away and set our hearts on fire for You.