Of Dragons and Dishes - Living an Enchanted Life

"All the great themes (in fantasy) come from our world ... if we looked at our own lives, we'd see that they are just as enchanted.  A cup of tea here is just as enchanted as a cup of tea in Narnia.  A tree here is just as enchanted as a tree in Narnia."

-- Christopher W. Mitchell

As a child, I remember hearing an older man tell his sweet wife, "Honey, I love you enough to wrestle a bear for you.  The only problem is, there aren't any bears in our neighborhood."   We all laughed, but I've never forgotten his comment or the earnestness of his desire to prove his love.

Stories like "The Chronicles of Narnia" become classics because of our human hunger for their magic.  Our minds love to escape to great lands and our hearts swell with the tales of noble feats. Then we close the book and look at a pile of dirty dishes.

It can feel like all of the heroic, powerful ways to "prove" our love, to live courageously, to write a grand life story are things of the past or of fantasy lands.  There are so few (as in no!) continents left to conquer, so few knights charging about on horses, so few bears to wrestle.

And yet ....

When you look with different eyes, you see that all of the great themes of love, passion, pain, anger, fear, courage still play out around us every day.  They just look very very different.

*  Instead of avoiding poisonous snakes, we may recoil from a nasty political debate.
*  Instead of weeping over the death of a handsome prince, we grieve the plight of a refugee child.
*  Instead of huddling under blankets while enemy warriors circle our tent, we lie awake in the night worrying about bills.
*  Instead of fleeing a plague, we hold a loved one's hand during chemo.
*  Instead of discovering a new land, we pursue a dream filled with scary unknowns
*  Instead of wrestling a bear, we battle the negative influences in our teenager's life (I think a bear might be friendlier!).

Our battles are less with monsters and dragons and more with our own minds and hearts.  But that does not make them any less significant!

All great stories are born in struggle.  Without hard, dangerous, heart-breaking moments, there are no heroes. We do not need to escape to some fantasy world to experience the magic our hearts long for. Indeed, THIS world is filled with the stuff of the best tales ever written.

My sadness, my fears, my obstacles that feel overwhelming bear the same weight and potential for glory as those of a far off heroine who gallops through a thicket with her hair streaming behind.  Don't be fooled by these sweatpants and this frazzled ponytail.  My daily life requires the same courage, the same heart, the same love.

Through every choice I make, I am writing my own enchanted story.

A few months ago, Danielle LaPorte, creator of the Desire Map, shared this photo and the message has rung in my ears ever since.  How often my motivations twist and tangle around my needs and wants.  Whether battling a modern-day dragon or pursuing a deeply-held dream, the only thing I can control is my own motivation.  Moment by moment, I can choose what things I make important enough to fight for and "WHY."

There are a million reasons why anything gets done (including starting a blog) and many of those reasons are wonderful.  But when it's all boiled down, the only "WHY" that really matters is LOVE.  Every single day is filled with moments to choose love and when we fail, magically, the very next moment gives us another chance to get it right.

When I live and move "for the Love," even my simple, somewhat messy life begins to feel beautiful and enchanted ... my own holy ground.

And now I think I shall go and sip a cup of enchanted tea ....

-Amy Jae