Giants + New Life = Victory

    This morning I was watching an episode of Dora and friends with my little princess. The whole episode was about how Dora and her friends came to the rescue of a little village who was going to be attacked by a very large giant. They ride in on their horses, singing a song of warning to flee to the nearby castle up the hill where they could take refuge. Very heroic indeed. As the giant was getting closer to the village one of the horses that one of Dora’s friends was riding noticed a beautiful little butterfly and starting chasing the butterfly…right in the direction of the giant….dun dun dun. Silly horse. As they approached the giant something amazing happened. The butterfly started to swarm the giant and the giant got scared! This bearded, grown giant started crying of all things and pitching a bit of fit like a toddler until the butterfly flew away. That gave all the villagers and Dora’s friends just enough time to get behind the castle gates before the giant started charging their way. He was, as you would expect, extremely upset and he was on his way to make sure those villagers knew it. As you can imagine, when a giant runs there’s bound to be some shaking. The shaking was so strong that it knocked down the securely locked castle gate, leaving the villagers and Dora’s friends completely exposed to the giant’s impending attack. But then, one of Dora’s friends remembered…she remembered that the giant was afraid of butterflies. So they came up with a plan and while one of Dora’s friends rode out to distract the giant they somehow had enough time and supplies to construct a giant butterfly that could act as a puppet over the castle wall. As the giant approached they lifted the giant butterfly up to the castle wall and the giant came face to face with the vicious creature and fled the other direction. Dora and her friends and the villagers were safe at last! 

 

As I’m watching this, I said to my husband, “ Wouldn’t it be great if we could just chase our life giants away with a butterfly?” But then, I really thought about it. The truth is we CAN chase our giants away with a butterfly. I started thinking about a current giant that I’m facing and I then started thinking about what the butterfly represents. If you google it, butterflies represent life and more than that they represent endurance, change and hope. Now you see where I’m going. 

 

What are giants? They are fears and challenges dressed up in a big, hairy, silly, toddler acting shell. Nothing more. When those giants see a butterfly or they see life coming at them they are afraid because they are reminded that they aren’t bigger than life or even better, the One that gives life.

 

We all face giants, daily…our weapon is the source of life, Jesus. He represents endurance as He walked out His journey to the cross. He represents change as His word is consistently challenging us to be more like Him. He represents hope, hope in Him and His promises. And lastly, life, He represents life, life abundant and life eternal. If we face our giants with our butterfly, Jesus, our giants will certainly flee. If we face our giants with endurance, change, hope and life then death cannot stand and win.