Once Upon A Time...(The Fairytale World Of Christians)

        "Once upon a time...", when we hear these words, our heart beat quickens and our minds become attentive.  This happens because for years we as children have become fascinated with stories of conflict, romance, and dangerous quests.  We've become accustomed to the story of the knight in shining armour that must defeat the Dragon to save the life and win the heart of the fair maiden.  But are fairytales only make believe stories meant to capture the minds of children?

        At the beginning of every fairytale story are the words "Once upon a time",  which hold the meaning of  a time that is both not of our time, but also of a history of what once might have been our time.  The Gospel as Fairy Tale defines "Once upon a time" as "a time beyond time,or at a different kind of time altogether from the kind the clock measures, or at a time that is no time at all because it is without beginning and without end."  In some ways this is how we could view the Bible.  God had no beginning, and He has no end.  He has always been the same, and always will be.  So, with that being said, our lives as Christians is a fairytale.  Just as characters in fairytales live normal lives in normal places before they happen upon some magical world, so do Christians live ordinary lives before journeying to the Kingdom of Heaven.  And not just Heaven, but the moment  they found salvation,the Christian stepped into the fairytale world.  Buechner says in his book that "You enter the extraordinary by way of the ordinary."  It is from our everyday lives that we begin something truly amazing.

        However, not all that is in a fairytale is perfect, and likewise for Christianity.  Where there is good, there is also evil.  There will always be those who will stand against us.  But in fairytales, through the use of magic, good always wins, no matter the cost.  In Christianity, that magic is Faith, and in the end, even if with death, we would have fulfilled our purpose in life, because God willed it so.

        In fairytales, the impossible becomes possible.  Animals talk, people transform, and there is such a thing as magic. Luke 18:27 says "What is impossible with man is possible with God", and Matthew 19:26 says "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."  Christians are able to do the unimaginable through the power of Christ.  And even against the evil of this world, we are able to see the beauty of it because it is home, and it is worth holding on to.  The book says that we not only live in a world, but a world lives in us, nothing is too familiar.