Mary received some money for her birthday and decided to buy the “Tinkerbell” movie. I was skeptical at first. Some of the Disney sequels and prequels can be pretty cheesy. But after having watched Tinkerbell about 25 times, I can safely recommend it. The animation is beautiful, the writers stayed respectful to the original “Peter Pan” and there is enough adult humor to keep Moms and Dads entertained.
In the movie, we meet Tinkerbell for the first time and watch her develop. She quickly befriends a group of “nature fairies” who are responsible for bringing Spring to the world. There is a fairy who wakes up the sleeping animals, a fairy who plants seedlings, a fairy who paints the flower petals and so on.
Now, let me say that I know there are some Christian parents who will not expose their children to any type of fantasy literature or movies. In our family, I think that a little bit of fantasy is fine as long as you follow it up with the truth. Although I will admit that when I was explaining that fairies weren’t real and Nathan asked “What about the tooth fairy?” I played dumb. I wasn’t quite ready to destroy that piece of childhood magic.
Anyway, I did explain to our kids that it isn’t the fairies who bring the seasons to the world. But that the change in seasons is magical. There is no better time to see that then now as Fall is clearly on its way. And I will argue with anyone that there is no better place to see it than here off the Blue Ridge Parkway. It is not Nature Fairies or even “Mother Nature” who brings us the seasons; it is our Creator, God. It is He who lines up the geese and points them to the South, it is He who puts the lilies to bed and it is He who paints the leaves red and gold.
I was a Biology major in college and I love science. It gives me a sense of order and I am comforted to think that there is a system behind the changes in our world. I realize that Fall happens because our half of the earth is titling away from the sun and the nights are getting colder and this is triggering the chlorophyll in leaves to diminish allowing other colors to appear. But, I find it much harder to believe that this happens by chance than to believe that it happens by design.
About the tenth time I watched “Tinkerbell” I noticed that there is a swirl pattern repeated throughout the movie. It is found on leaves, in the patterns of the sun and on the fairy wings. To me, the handprint of God is all around us. My challenge for you this week is to look for that handprint. Whether you are racing to work on 501 or have time to sit and watch a sunset on the parkway (or whatever makes sense where you live) just keep your eyes open for the magic that surrounds us. Then take a moment and just breathe “How Great Thou Art!” And let me know what you found.
Annie, all I can say is WOW. Keep them coming.