A few years ago I went to Disney World. It is a fantasmagic creation of Walt Disney designed to make all persons, children and adults, lose themselves to happiness and excitement. Everywhere you look people are happy, whether they walk on their legs or are in wheelchairs. The joy, excitement and expectation do not allow for people to judge others or themselves. Sometimes it would feel like an out-of-body experience. It is really a magical and miraculous life: from the creations of the magic kingdom, through nature’s beauty of the animal kingdom, to the love that holds all people together expressed in EPCOT (Experimental Proto-Community of Tomorrow). EPCOT is an envisioned triumph of love over barriers created by illusions of separation from each other.
A magical life is a miraculous life. It isn’t a life of fantasy or illusion. The imaginative stories of the fairies or mermaids or the adventures of Mickey Mouse are all depictions of human experience. The stories are meant to stimulate our imagination to be more creative in understanding and dealing with the challenges of human existence. You notice in almost all the Disney stories a conflict between good and evil; a conspiracy of evil-minded persons to destroy love, goodness and kindness. In the end, love, kindness and goodness, always win without revenge. That is what makes life truly magical and miraculous; for there is no power in this world greater and stronger than love and kindness. The reason is because love is God, and kindness is God’s nature. It is love that holds all things and all persons together. But in our effort to live a life of love and kindness, we surely will encounter the maleficent in Sleeping Beauty, evil step mother in Cinderella, selfish and wicked queen in Snow White, envious and venomous uncle in Lion King. These storybook figures represent the dark forces that fight against love and kindness, and are destined to create a life of misery and unhappiness in people’s lives. As Flora, the good fairy in Sleeping Beauty rightly observes, Maleficent, the self-proclaimed evil, does not know love or kindness even though she claims she knows everything. Happiness and true peace cannot dwell in a heart that is not committed to love.
That is why evil spirits cannot stand before Jesus, who is Love Incarnate. It is through love that all evil can be conquered in our personal lives, families, communities and in our world. This is the fundamental message of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus destroyed all evil and death through His undying love for us, and unrelenting commitment to the Father. As Christians, love is our trademark and as long as we are committed to love and kindness, we will truly experience a magical and miraculous life, because we shall have nothing to fear knowing that we possess the strongest but most gentle power in this world: the power of love! We must renew our commitment to Jesus each day, and resist the lure of hate, vengeance, unforgiveness, resentment, bitterness, envy and jealousy. We must ask for the help of God to love always no matter the cost; to forgive constantly, and to purify our hearts of all that is contrary to love and blessing. Then, we will experience a magical and miraculous life. This is Disney’s vision, but it is ultimately God’s desire for all His children.
