I am the Chosen One . . . And so are You
I love first-rate epic stories, whether they come in the guise of a thousand page fantasy novel, a sci-fi blockbuster, or historical fiction. Stories like The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, and Star Wars are top on the list, and they all have a plot formula in common. There is a character who is special, "chosen," if you will, who goes on to overcome overwhelming negative odds to defeat some kind of evil force or power-hungry maniac. I'm clearly not the only person who likes this kind of story; it's a general plot device that is used in lots of different novels, whether epic or not. (Shoot, it shows up in my Legend as well.) I just finished a couple of books that fit this description this week and realized that I spent far too much of my week either reading the stories or reliving them in my head. Entertaining novels have always been my escape but this week they were a stumbling block, since I had so many mundane real-life chores that just needed to be done. Escaping from them into a novel was just another form of procrastination-- not very helpful.
This thought has occurred to me before, but it came up this week again after I caught myself longingly daydreaming about one of these adventures. It would be so cool to do something so important, so special, and to be the heroine of an epic! Much more exciting than slogging through yet another load of laundry, prodding my unwilling children to do their homework, and scrubbing the floors and walls in my house. Not that trekking through Mordor sounds like much fun (poor Frodo and Sam probably would have preferred to tackle sixteen loads of laundry), but just think what they accomplished at the end! And what have I accomplished at the end? A bunch of teetering piles of clean clothes, half of which will end up stuffed in baskets to be washed again before they even get worn. Frodo didn't have to climb up Mount Doom every single week, only to have all of Middle Earth shrug afterwards and take it for granted.
I finally realized that I don't have to daydream about being part of some grand battle between good and evil, where I have overwhelming odds stacked against me. I am already in the middle of this. I am a daughter of God with a divine destiny ahead of me-- and all the odds stacked against me in the here and now. I have an enemy. A dark and terrible one, more cunning than any fictional baddie could ever dream. He will stop at nothing to ruin not only my present life, but my eternal future and that of the whole world. The difference is that this is real life, not fiction. I know the overall ending will be that good triumphs over evil. Jesus Christ has triumphed and eventually the enemy will be thrown down and cast out. The only question is whether or not I will triumph. Am I going to desert the winning side? Or will I achieve my eternal potential?
In that sense I am the Chosen One, the heroine of the story, the one battling tremendous forces of evil. All of us are. We are all like Harry trying to grow up, use our gifts, and figure out how to defeat Voldemort. We are all like Luke trying to overcome the overwhelming numbers of the Empire, moving forward to meet our destiny. The happy ending is waiting for us. It just depends on what we choose to do with our time here and now.
The next time I am gloomily surrounded by boring housework, I am going to remind myself that I have a grand destiny ahead of me as a "joint-heir with Christ" and that this is just part of my long journey. I just need to remember where my goal is. Real life is even more epic than a fantasy novel.
This thought has occurred to me before, but it came up this week again after I caught myself longingly daydreaming about one of these adventures. It would be so cool to do something so important, so special, and to be the heroine of an epic! Much more exciting than slogging through yet another load of laundry, prodding my unwilling children to do their homework, and scrubbing the floors and walls in my house. Not that trekking through Mordor sounds like much fun (poor Frodo and Sam probably would have preferred to tackle sixteen loads of laundry), but just think what they accomplished at the end! And what have I accomplished at the end? A bunch of teetering piles of clean clothes, half of which will end up stuffed in baskets to be washed again before they even get worn. Frodo didn't have to climb up Mount Doom every single week, only to have all of Middle Earth shrug afterwards and take it for granted.
I finally realized that I don't have to daydream about being part of some grand battle between good and evil, where I have overwhelming odds stacked against me. I am already in the middle of this. I am a daughter of God with a divine destiny ahead of me-- and all the odds stacked against me in the here and now. I have an enemy. A dark and terrible one, more cunning than any fictional baddie could ever dream. He will stop at nothing to ruin not only my present life, but my eternal future and that of the whole world. The difference is that this is real life, not fiction. I know the overall ending will be that good triumphs over evil. Jesus Christ has triumphed and eventually the enemy will be thrown down and cast out. The only question is whether or not I will triumph. Am I going to desert the winning side? Or will I achieve my eternal potential?
In that sense I am the Chosen One, the heroine of the story, the one battling tremendous forces of evil. All of us are. We are all like Harry trying to grow up, use our gifts, and figure out how to defeat Voldemort. We are all like Luke trying to overcome the overwhelming numbers of the Empire, moving forward to meet our destiny. The happy ending is waiting for us. It just depends on what we choose to do with our time here and now.
The next time I am gloomily surrounded by boring housework, I am going to remind myself that I have a grand destiny ahead of me as a "joint-heir with Christ" and that this is just part of my long journey. I just need to remember where my goal is. Real life is even more epic than a fantasy novel.
Comments
Loved it.