I never imagined I would discover a little something about myself in the movie, Alice in Wonderland. Don’t worry, I’m not about to say that everything I learned about God, I learned from Disney. Quite the opposite, really.
I recently found myself looking for a movie to rent with my hubby and we realized we both hadn’t seen Johnny Depp in his role as the Mad Hatter so it was decided; crazy Tim Burton’s version for the win!
We weren’t even ten minutes into the film and I was hooked.
I spent most of the evening in awe of the quotes in this movie that whispered a million “amens” to my heart. Doesn’t God speak in the strangest ways sometimes? A Tim Burton movie? Wow…
I just love when Jesus speaks and how He is not limited in the way He invites us into conversation.
Consider the famous line from the Caterpillar to Alice, “who are you?”
Alice was so confused. All she had been told since she arrived to Wonderland was that she was the wrong Alice. Now she’s again faced with this question, insecure and doubting.
Ever been there?
Yeah, me too.
Luckily, her wild adventure doesn’t end there, and it takes her on a journey where it becomes very clear that Alice is becoming. She is in process. And suddenly it’s profound that the dialogue about her identity was with a creature that would soon turn to a butterfly himself.
Alice starts in the first few scenes by listing the things she cannot do, and by the end of the movie, she is a fierce warrior, defending her friends and taking down the enemy. Sorry for the spoiler.
But seriously, have you seen this movie? Curiouser and curiouser?
Here’s a few more quotes from the film that I adore:
“You’re mad. Bonkers. Off your head. But I’ll tell you a secret, all of the best people are.”
Um, YES! WE are the dreamers!
“I can’t go back to yesterday because I was a different person then.”
It’s called sanctification, girlfriend. Woot! High-five!
“Every adventure requires a first step.”
And that FIRST step basically makes you want to throw up! Wahoo!
“From the moment I fell down that hole I’ve been told what I must do and who I must be. I’ve been shrunk, stretched, scratched, and stuffed into a teapot. I’ve been accused of being Alice and of not being Alice, but this is my dream. I’ll decide where it goes from here. …I make the path.”
GIRRRRRRL. Preach!
I feel it, too, Alice. I see you. I felt the shrinking. The scratches. The being told “what I must do and who I must be.”
And eventually like Alice, I looked my enemy in the eye and stomped my feet in protest: “this is my dream. I’ll decide where it goes from here…I make the path.”
As someone who is starting to really enjoy the adventure, I believe the path and dreams carved out for me have been created by God who invites us all to a unique, while admittedly loopy journey that often feels exactly like falling down a rabbit hole.
But we all want an adventure. It’s the way God moves us. It’s the reason that you hear the word in several famous movie quotes like The Hobbit, The Matrix, Tangled, Peter Pan and Harry Potter, just to name a few. It’s the part of us that leans into courage and defines bravery, the moments where we come alive, and yearn for more.
What if God created a desire within us for adventure so we would always long for more?
I don’t know about you, but I say YES. I want more.
I want to know how to answer Him with confidence when He says, “who are you?”
And I hope the answer forever on my lips is, “I am yours. So where are we going next, Papa?”