When Will My Life Begin? How to Write This Chapter Well
“And I’ll keep wanderin’, and wanderin’, and wanderin’, and wanderin’, when will my life begin…”
Does anyone else love Tangled? I’m definitely a Disney girl at heart! This movie and story have meant so much to me for many different reasons, but lately, this song has almost been my anthem as I await our locked-down world to come back to life.
I’ve felt like Rapunzel stuck in her tower, doing all the things that make her feel productive and purposeful, but longing to be out in the world. Anyone else?
This season we’re in is strange, foreign and uncertain. Yet I know we will come to the end of it and resume the lives we know. But will we be ready for them? If we ignore the uncertain season, will we really be able to live the next season well?
I believe that that how we choose to live, act and spend our days where we are now, will determine how or what we are able to handle in the next chapter of our lives. After all, when Rapunzel did finally leave her tower, she didn’t step into a life of mundane, expected routine. But she suddenly found herself in a grand adventure, full of danger, desire, bravery and purpose. Isn’t that what we all want for our lives? Yet, are we really living right now as if we are preparing for the adventure ahead?
The truth is, we all want to believe that our lives could be a grand adventure, but what we really believe is that life is practical and Disney movies are for children. Well I beg to differ! And if that’s what you believe, then that’s what you’ll get.
But don’t you want something more? Don’t you feel a pull to the unknown, to play a significant role in this story, to find purpose that you alone can fulfill and to give your life on this earth by making a difference?
You have these desires because your Maker placed them in you when He was still forming you in your mother’s womb and they won’t just go away because you decided they needed to.
We want our lives to matter, yet we’re not living our lives in a way where they can.
When you read a great novel or story, there are always those chapters where the hero is being groomed, trained or prepared for the adventure ahead. But at the time, they don’t know anything is coming. But if it weren’t for those chapters of preparation, they would never be able to live out the following chapters of adventure.
“We can be in our day what the heroes of faith were in their day. But remember at the time they didn’t know they were heroes.”
Abraham, Joseph, Peter, David, Paul, Esther, Ruth, Mary… All these great heroes of the faith didn’t have the benefit of reading the end of their stories because they were still being written, as is yours. They did however choose to write their current chapter well (not perfectly, but with purpose) which paved the way for all the glorious chapters ahead.
Don’t get distracted by the negative circumstances. Those are only and always temporal. This too shall pass and when it does, people are going to be looking for stability, purpose and people who live not according to what is happening around them, but by a higher calling.
Just as Rapunzel found the strength to stand up to her capture when she realized who she was - a royal daughter of the King - we too can find courage and strength by turning to our identity and pulling on Heaven’s plans for our lives.
This world does not get to decided what story we will write. But the choice is yours. If you’re still stuck at home or if you’re in the midst of a challenging season, take advice from Rapunzel and don’t let the tower define you. You are more than your current season. This is just a chapter in your story. Only you can decide how it will be written.
Let your time in the tower make you stronger, softer and more sure of the kind of life you want to live. Then when you get the chance to jump out into the great unknown, you’ll be ready and prepared for all of the wonderful adventures that await you.
Write this chapter well,
Jess